8 Ly He? PAGE DSU; EB tOmNe epee aN, 
‘CONFESSIONS’ OF 39 YEARS OF 
BANDING THE BIRDS ... 50,000 OF THEM 
by KARL E. BARTEL 
It all started when I used to feed birds in a wooded section of Oak Hill 
Cemetery, where I worked, near the city of Blue Island, Ill., from 1930 to 
1933. 
I used to read the nature articles that Bob Becker wrote in the Chicago 
Tribune, and one time he mentioned his pamphlet, “Birds and Bird Houses,” 
which I acquired. In it were pictures and a story by the late William I. Lyon, 
Waukegan’s famed bird-bander. This interested me so much, that I went to 
Waukegan to visit Mr. Lyon, and he very cordially showed me his trapping 
site and how he banded. 
Mr. Lyon quickly noticed how interested I was in birds, and so he per- 
suaded me to join the Chicago Ornithological Society. 
Up to this time the C.O.S. never had had 18-year-old youngsters among 
the membership, but since Mr. Lyon was then president, he thought teach- 
ing youth about birds had its advantages. Thus, Alfred Reuss and I became 
members in April of 1932. Later William Lyon paved the way for me to get 
a federal bird-banding permit. 
The permit and some bands arrived on February 1, 1933. I hastily made 
a trap, (pull-string type) and on February 11, 1933, at my feeding station 
in the cemetery, I gingerly trapped my first bird—in fact two. They were 
Slate-colored Juncos which I banded with numbers H-79601 and H-79602. 
My father belonged to a duck hunting club at Depue, IIl., where Great 
Blue Herons nested. I often admired these birds and thought I might try 
and band some. I ordered some size-7 bands which came on July 1, 1933. 
Mr. Reuss, Fred Labahn, also a bander, and I arrived at the nesting site on 
July 3, 1933. The two of us banded herons from July 3rd to the 7th. I 
banded 23 young herons and Labahn banded 27. 
I was absolutely thrilled when I got my first recovery for a bird I’d 
tagged. The recovery was from a Cowbird banded April 23, 1933, and found 
dead on June 13 one mile northeast of where I banded it. (Not much, but 
nevertheless it meant a lot.) 
My second recovery was from the heron bandings. One was banded 
July 5 and found alive, exhausted and released July 13 at Highland Park, 
Il1., 150 miles north. 
Out of the 23 Great Blue Herons I banded in ’33, I got only three re- 
coveries: the above-mentioned bird, and one banded July 6 which was shot 
stealing goldfish at Lake Forest on August 25. The other, banded July 6, 
was killed 22 months later near Denmark, Tenn. 
