Today, I picked up a dead Caspian Tern from the Port of Tacoma. It has two green plastic bands on its left leg and an orange plastic band under a metal band on the right leg. The metal band was badly corroded but, with some sanding, I could see the numbers. I entered the information on the band recovery via the Bird Banding Lab's reporting facility. It was fairly easy except that it didn't have a sensible way to report the locations and colors of the plastic bands.

Nevertheless, I got immediate gratification, a report that this bird had been banded in April, 2000 in Oregon. I suspect it was probably banded on East Sand Island in the Columbia River estuary.

Kelly McAllister