Audubon California, like many other bird conservation organizations, bands birds to learn about fluctuations in local bird population. In so doing, we and others frequently use so-called mist nets, very light nets that capture birds as they fly through a certain area. We're often asked if this practice is safe for birds. While in our experience, mist netting has been safe for birds -- we would have stopped if we found that we were hurting significant numbers of birds -- there hasn't been a comprehensive study of the practic until now. Researchers from UC Berkeley analyzed more than 640,000 captures and determined that birds are rarely injured or killed by mist nets. Learn more here.