History of bird banding
Banding a tui
Bird banding began in the 1940s, with the Wildlife Branch of the Department of Internal Affairs banding game birds and waterfowl using the department's address on the bands (for example: Send, Write - Wildlife - Wellington - New Zealand).
By 1950, members of the Ornithological Society of New Zealand were banding all other birds, and from 1950 to 1967, the Dominion Museum assisted the Ornithological Society to process non-game banding.
The Dominion Museum became the National Museum in 1972, and then the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa in 1992. Bands issued with National Museum addresses on them (for example: Send - National Museum - New Zealand DOM.MUS , NAT.MUS or Dominion Museum of New Zealand) are still being used today.
In 1967, all New Zealand banding schemes merged into a single New Zealand National Bird Banding Scheme. All records were held at the Wildlife Branch of the Department of Internal Affairs, which eventually became the Department of Conservation. On 1 April 1987, DOC took control of the New Zealand Bird Banding Scheme (issuing bands such as: Send - DOC - Box 108 - WL 6015 NZ, Send Dept of Cons. NZ or Send Dept of Conserv. New Zealand1).
Today, the scheme supplies approved ornithologists throughout New Zealand, both professional and amateur, with bands and banding equipment. All data collected for this scheme is kept at the National Banding Office, Department of Conservation, Wellington and is made available to researchers and ornithologists.
1) Please note: When the NZ postal codes were changed in 2007 the NZ Bird Banding Scheme postal address changed to: Department of Conservation, PO BOX 108, Wellington 6140, New Zealand).