In 1994 Adrian Riegen formed the New Zealand Wader Study Group, supported by the trust. The group consisted of bird banders, and had developed from a local Miranda group within the trust, to being a nationwide group recording and reporting on bird banding results to do with waders from all over New Zealand. A group of bird banders called "the Miranda Banders" had been active from 1979 to 1982, but was fired up again in late 1986, when four wrybills were caught by Adrian Riegen. The next catch in February 1987 consisted of more than 800 birds on the Kaipara Harbour. Catching was done with the use of a cannon net. Since then the catching and banding of birds have become and still are an important part of the work at the Shorebird Centre. Cannon netting is one of the highlights of the annual field courses. The banding and flagging of birds brought answers to many questions concerning the migration routes of godwits and knots. Results of the banding are published in The New Zealand Wader Study Group News, which is an occasional newsletter, published through the MNT.