Seen a banded bird? Report it here
Elegant Terns
Spot an Elegant Tern with a metal ID band on one leg and a red or orange band on the other leg? Please report it in the form below.
During the summer of 2021, a barge incident affecting Elegant Terns in Long Beach Harbor, resulted in hundreds of chicks needing care. Bird Rescue rescued these young terns, raised them at the Los Angles wildlife center. Thanks to citizen scientists we’ve received multiple sightings of terns thriving in the wild.
Brown Pelicans
Notice a Brown Pelican with a large blue colored band? Please report it below. If you can also share a photo, we’d appreciate it.
Since 2009, all released Brown Pelican patients are banded with special, highly readable blue bands to aid in sighting and reporting. More than 1700 pelicans have been banded since this program started.
Use this form page to report banded or inked Elegant Terns, Blue-banded Brown Pelicans, Red-banded Snowy Egrets, and White-banded Black-crowned Night-Herons. *Note* on Brown Pelican bands: the blue bands that we use have with a single letter and two numbers, ex. A44, 4A4. Only reports for one of our color band programs should be made using this form.
For more info on our banding programs as well as other notable banding programs in California and the U.S., please visit our Banding Program page. You can also report metal alloy banded birds directly to the USGS Bird Banding Lab (BBL).
Please note: If the bird you have seen is injured, please follow the instructions on the found a bird page for getting the bird to an appropriate rehabilitator or finding the appropriate contact to get help for the bird.