Given the reports this week from Dave Provencher and Russ Smiley (on eBird) of terns at coastal birding sites, I want to pipe up here for folks keeping an eye out for BANDED terns. Many Roseate terns have been banded over the past 10 years with Plastic Field Readable Bands (PFRs) along with their USFWS metal band; banding sites include not only Great Gull Island and Falkner's Island, but sites from Massachusetts down to Argentina. The PFRs are designed to be easily readable at a distance with a telescope or even binoculars. Reports of sightings of these bands are hugely valuable, because they confirm longevity and inform us about how these federally endangered birds are moving around pre- and post-breeding (and therefore what sites are important to them); reports of banded adults accompanied (and especially feeding) young of the year are especially valuable because they confirm breeding success. The way to record and report those PFRs is COLOR/Combination (usually 2 letters, then a number). You should always report such band sightings to the USFWS (http://www.reportband.gov/); the Great Gull Island Project would also be very grateful for your reports in real time (it takes the BBL some time to report back to the banders). If you could cc me (margaret.rubega@uconn.edu) on any roseate resightings you have, I would appreciate it. Happy birding, y'all. Margaret Rubega (she/her/hers) Professor CT State Ornithologist Curator, Ornithology Collections Dept Ecology and Evolutionary Biology University of Connecticut margaret.rubega@uconn.edu @profrubega 860-486-4502 ________________________________