Hi All:

I stopped by Pier 91 late this morning to see if there were Caspian Terns on
the roofs of the warehouses. I counted up to 64 perched Caspian Terns (8
juveniles). Quite a few were hunting and returning with fish in beaks. They
made so much racket that it was surprising that other people on the bike
path didn't appear to notice them.
While I was counting, I noticed two that had color bands on both legs. One
had green over silver (or gray) on the left leg & yellow over yellow on the
right leg; the second was right leg yellow over green, left leg red over
white (over green? - sure looked like a 3rd band). I'm not sure if these are
complete band readings, but it was the best I could do. Even if they are
partial band readings, it should at least give someone an idea where these
birds have turned up.
Where they are from? Dungeness? Columbia River? Has anyone else noticed
that some of these birds are banded?
Also, 4 of the 5 Purple Martin gourds and nest boxes were active, with busy
adults feeding large young.


Ruth Taylor
Ballard/Seattle
rutht at seanet.com