Hi Tony and all: The story & significance of the banded Caspian Terns is on the Bird Research NW site (http://www.birdresearchnw.org/). Report banded Caspians to Bird Research NW at http://www.mybandedtern.org/ and also the the Bird Banding Lab (BLL) http://www.pwrc.usgs.gov/BBl/homepage/call800.htm.
Most are banded on East Sand Island, in the Columbia River estuary, but there are other banding locations. There should be a good post season dispersal from the 7,000 pair colony now that is wiped out. If you have a flock of terns on a roost and want to do some data collecting, record the colors and numbers, and send them on to the web sites above.
Caspians have been rather common on the Tahlequah to Pt Defiance ferry commute over the past two weeks. A first this summer has been summering California gulls. Today there was a mew gull roosting on the old Tahlequah dock, a first for "fall" migration.
Gary Shugart, Slater Museum, Univ Puget Sound, Tacoma & Vashon Island



From: Tony <tvarela AT hotmail.com>
Date: Sat, 2 Jul 2011 20:26:43 -0700
Greetings Tweeters, I observed a banded Caspian Tern at Nisqually a couple of
days ago and am interested in knowing the significance of these particular
tags.


Any guidance is appreciated.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/tony-v/5896045426/

- Tony


Gary Shugart Collections ManagerSlater Museum of Natural History University of Puget Sound Tacoma, WA 98416 253 879-3356 (museum) 206 463-2169 (home)gshugart at pugetsound.edu, gwshugart at hotmail.com Slater Museum Website Spread Wing ImagesNorthwest Nature NotesContributing specimens to Washington's Biological Archive