When banded hawks subsequently encountered by humans are—hopefully—reported to the US Bird Banding Laboratory, the Golden Gate Raptor Observatory (GGRO) receives a report of where the bird was found and what the circumstances were. Banding recoveries help us answer questions about raptor populations we are tracking in our count studies—what are their geographical ranges? How long do birds live? Recoveries also give us insight into causes of raptor injuries and deaths.