Many studies of resident birds require frequent checks of the continued presence of the birds. The usual means for making these determinations is trapping or netting the birds and banding them with numbered bands. They are then released and periodically retrapped or netted in order to read their band numbers. An alternative has been a color banding system, in addition to the numbered bands. The color banding system is excellent for visual identification, if only a few individuals are concerned. Any elaborate banding system adds sufficient weight to small birds to require a much greater expenditure of energy in flight. This is not desirable because of possible increased mortality among banded birds.