Pam Sherwood / for the Post Register - The tiniest of all hummingbirds, the Calliope hummingbird, is the most commonly captured bird on Kent Rudeen’s ranch.

Arbon Valley rancher Kent Rudeen has banded more than 1,200 humming birds in the past five years, trying to figure out where the birds move to and from.

Learning how hummingbirds are banded made the long drive from Idaho Falls to the Arbon Valley ranch of Kent Rudeen worth it for Cathy Peppers.

“I always wondered how they banded hummingbirds,” Peppers said. “They are so small and delicate. It is amazing to see the tiny bands placed on their legs.”

Tiny is a good description since it takes more than 4,000 hummingbird bands to weigh one ounce.

But why band hummingbirds at all? Call it curiosity, science or just being amazed at the number of hummingbirds that returned to the same ranch site year after year each summer.

Twenty-two years ago, Kent Rudeen started feeding hummingbirds at the family’s summer ranch site.

“We never dreamed of attracting 200 to 300 hummingbirds to the area,” Rudeen said. “We just wanted to feed some hummingbirds and enjoy watching them.”

As the Rudeen family watched the numbers of hummingbirds steadily grow each summer, they wanted to learn more about the intriguing birds sharing their ranch.

Could banding solve some of the mysteries like where the hummingbirds came from, where they went at the end of summer, how long they live and if some came back year after year?

Five years ago, they started banding hummingbirds on the ranch. Getting started was more difficult expected. There was only one licensed hummingbird bander in Idaho at the time, Stacy Peterson.

Peterson was hesitant at first to set up a banding site six miles up a dirt road in an area not known for an abundance of hummingbirds.

Once he visited the ranch, Peterson was hooked.

“This is an unexpected but great place to band hummingbirds,” Petersen said. “We band mainly Colliope hummingbirds but also black-chinned and broad-tailed hummingbirds.”

The banding is an annual event and the Rudeens invite the public to come and enjoy watching the process.

“We have banded 1,200 birds here over the past four years,” Petersen said. “I am looking for two different individual hummingbirds that we banded and have returned several years in a row. One goes to New Mexico and the other was reported in California.”

The tiniest of all hummingbirds, the Calliope hummingbird, weighs less than a penny, loves the area thriving around the ranch site. Eighty percent of the hummingbirds banded at the ranch have been Calliopes.

Too capture hummers for banding two of the ranch’s seven feeders are placed inside large cages with sliding doors. When several hummers go inside to visit the feeder the sliding door is shut via a fishing line.

The birds are taken out of the cage, carefully placed in small mesh bags and taken to the banding station.

Licensed banders Petersen and Fred Bassett take each bird’s measurements, checking females to see if they are carrying eggs, weighing each one and placing a tiny band on the bird’s leg.

The bands are so small they are put on with tiny needle-nose pliers.

Prior to release, a dot of water-degradable paint is placed on the birds head so if goes into the capture cage again processors know not to bag it.

“It is amazing to see the delicate way they handle the birds,” Peppers said. “They are passionate and dedicated.”

Petersen flew in from Alaska and fellow bander Bassett drove in from Alabama. Both are expert humming bird banders. There are only 200 people certified in the U.S. to band hummingbirds.

Once captured, the hummingbirds are very passive. The birds are gently turn over on their backs to be weighed, measured and banded.

Petersen often gets the bird lovers who come to watch the process involved by gently placing one of the banded birds on a visitors open hand so they can feel heart beating and hear its suddenly burst of wing beats as it flies off.