Hi folks,

Received this information from the Bird Band listserver, and thought that
northwest birders might want to keep their eyes open for these terns.

Jon. Anderson
Olympia, Washington
festuca at olywa.net
----------
From: Alvaro Jaramillo[SMTP:alvaro at SIRIUS.COM]
Sent: Wednesday, April 22, 1998 9:43 PM
To: BIRDBAND at LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU
Subject: Banded and dyed Common Terns- be on the lookout.

Birders, banders and biologists:

My friend Esteban Bremer has asked me to post the following message asking
for sightings of colour dyed Common Terns or terns showing an orange flag
on their leg. These terns were processed in Argentina, their sightings will
provide useful information regarding where they breed and migratory routes.
NOTE that colour dyed birds will show orange-yellow patches on their
plumage, if you see one please note where this colour was on the bird's
body. Please feel free to distribute this information to other lists,
could someone post it to Seabirds-L (I am not on that list). Thanks.

Here is Esteban's message:

During the last years an important number of Common Terns banded in North
America were retrapped by us at Punta Rasa, Buenos Aires province, Argentina.

Punta Rasa is the south point of the Samborombn Bay- recently designated
as a "Ramsar Site", and it is a a place where a large number of shorebirds,
skimmers, gulls and specially terns gather to roost and feed. About 20,000
Sterna hirundo (Common Tern) roost every day at Punta Rasa during the
non-breeding season, and for this reason its the most important place for
Common Terns in Argentina.

Concerned about the area, Fundacin Vida Silvestre Argentina - a private
foundation- decided to create the Punta Rasa Biological Station", which
started working at the beginning of 1985. Though the range of activities of
the station is wide, the main objective is to work in education and
research for the conservation of migratory shorebirds and terns in
Samborombn Bay.

Since 1983 we have been banding Common Terns. We have been using bands from
the US Fish and Wildlife Service, but from March of the current year we
started using our own bands (I include the series of the US bands and the
inscription of the new ones). We are also colour dying the birds and are
now putting orange flags on the left tarsus (to date there is no other
project colour dyeing or colour flagging this species in Argentina).

We need your help: If you recover or see Common Terns banded or dyed at
Punta Rasa, or if you have information from previous years, please advise
us. We will be very grateful for your cooperation. The banding results will
not only provide new data about this species but also will be helpful for
the business we are doing to ensure the protection of the area.

We are anxious to hear from you soon.

Sincerely,

Esteban Bremer
Estacin Biolgica Punta Rasa
Casilla de Correo Numero 16
(7105) San Clemente del Tuy
Buenos Aires, Argentina

phone: 06622- 7219
fax: (01) 331- 3631

US bands used on Common Terns banded at Punta Rasa.

972-30501 to 30600
972-30601 to 30700
972-30701 to 30800

9822-14001 to 14100
9822-14101 to 14200
9822-14201 to 14300
9822-14301 to 14400
9822-14401 to 14500

Inscription on our own new bands:

AVISE : F.V.S.A.
C.C. 16 - 7105 ARGENTINA
PRO2 - 00001

Note that I (Alvaro Jaramillo) will be happy to receive e-mail submissions
which I will pass on to Esteban.

Alvaro Jaramillo Wildlife Biologist
Half Moon Bay, Coyote Creek Riparian Station
California P.O. Box 1027
Alviso, CA 95002
alvaro at sirius.com

Birds of Chile, New World Blackbirds at : http://www.sirius.com/~alvaro
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------