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Message: <blockquote data-quote="ovenbird43" data-source="post: 3390813" data-attributes="member: 64478">Long-term studies involving large numbers of marked birds require more bands in order to produce unique combinations.I've never seen this particular problem, and it may or may not have been caused by the bands.  Yes, bands can cause problems in some circumstances (I say this as a bander myself), it is usually rare but some species seem to be more susceptible.  There was a brief moratorium on banding Atlantic Coast Piping Plovers (or maybe the issue was just with upper leg flags, don't recall the details at the moment) due to observed leg injuries a few years back. A few projects in the region have been approved recently for banding but it is a topic still under investigation and discussion among Piping Plover biologists.</blockquote>