Banded

Banded: How a Birder’s-Eye View Made a Community (2024, 27 min.)

A documentary made in partnership with the Avian Research and Education Institute (AREI).

Ornithologist Dr. David Russell leads a community of volunteer birders to track migration patterns and population decline. But first, they have to catch the birds…

Brief Synopsis:
Banded is a short documentary about the charismatic ornithologist Dr. David Russell and his non-profit Avian Research and Education Institute (AREI), which organizes researchers, students, and citizen scientists to run a bird banding station at Hueston Woods State Park in Oxford, Ohio. Populations of migratory birds have fallen by 40-70% over the last 30 years, a statistic tied to parallel decreases in insect populations and habitat. To help stem this global crisis, ornithologists and engineers recently developed miniature tracking devices called nanotags that migrating birds can wear on their backs as they travel. For the first time in human history, scientists have robust and precise data on avian migration behaviors, which is upending longstanding theories, reshaping approaches to conservation, and augmenting the importance of banding stations. Filmed in the tradition of cinema-vérité, Banded follows Russell and the banding volunteers who gather data on the ground by setting up nets to catch wild birds at dawn and then examining by hand species including hawks, cardinals, warblers, scarlet tanagers, orioles, indigo buntings, Swainson’s thrushes, pileated woodpeckers, tufted titmice, and many more. Russell’s story blends science and civics, showing how a birder’s-eye view can help the rest of us inhabit—and care for—a more expansive and wondrous world.

Official selection at:

2024 Wildlife Conservation Film Festival, Monterrey, Mexico

2024 Inheritance Environmental Film Festival, public television program in Ireland and England

2024 St. Auggie Shorts Film Festival, St. Augustine, FL

2025 Sunscreen Film Festival, St. Petersburg, FL

2025 Seattle Film Festival Nominee for Best Environmental Documentary, Seattle, WA

2025 ANGAELICA Film Series, Pasadena CA

Additional screenings include:

2026, Inland Bird Banding Association conference, Minneapolis, MN

2026, Miami University Richard and Carole Cocks Art Museum, Oxford, OH

2026, Akron Audubon Society, Akron, OH

2026, Un Poco del Chocó Nature Preserve, Ecuador