Over the past few weeks, BiodiversityWork staff has collaborated with Massachusetts Audubon and the Town of Edgartown to study a Black Skimmer colony on Norton Point. These visits resulted in "re-sights" of 14 skimmers fitted with orange leg bands bearing unique alphanumeric codes. Each code is linked to an individual that was captured and banded as a chick at this northernmost skimmer colony, on Martha's Vineyard. To date, we've banded a total of 59 skimmers since the initiative began in 2017. Nearly a quarter of those birds were resighted during these most recent observations. The 14 birds observed at Norton Point with brief narratives on some of the highlights are included below.
| Year Banded | Codes | Highlights |
| 2017 | A0, A7, A8, A9 | All four of these birds were banded during the inaugural banding year. They are now 8 years old. |
| 2018 | E5, E7, J7 | E7 is our most photogenic bird, resighted in 34 unique observations from 12 different observers. |
| 2019 | J5 | One of only three banded chicks in 2019, two of which are believed to be alive today. |
| 2020 | J0 | J0 has returned to the Vineyard every year since it hatched. |
| 2022 | L2, L5, L6, L7 | This was the first time L2 had been seen since leaving the breeding ground as a fledgling in 2022. |
| 2024 | P1 | The sole banded skimmer from the 2024 cohort. We hope for great things for P1! |
E7 loves the spotlight and has been resighted a whopping 34 times, more than any other Martha's Vineyard banded skimmer.
P1 was the sole banded skimmer from the 2024 season. All future resights of this handsome fledgling will carry extra significance.
Skimmers are not the only species BiodiversityWorks works to resight. As the breeding season nears its conclusion, the Vineyard beaches become popular staging grounds and stopover points for endangered migrating Roseate Terns. We learn so much from every reported observation of our banded skimmers that we make special efforts to provide similar data to our colleagues banding roseate terns on their breeding grounds. So far in 2024, BWorks staff have reported 46 banded roseate terns to the Bird Banding Laboratory. We've received details back for 22 of those reports so far. The vast majority were birds banded on Great Gull Island in New York, but five were banded internationally: Z89 in Nova Scotia, Canada in 2022, and ML7, JC8, JH7 and JZ9 on the wintering ground in Brazil. We eagerly await more information from the biologists on the histories of these well-traveled birds.
Z89 among a large flock of terns. The white letters on the red band are indicative of birds banded in Canada.
MB8 resting on an exposed tidal flat. We haven't heard back yet on where this tern was banded.
A33 boasts the white on blue band, usually indicative of a bird banded on Great Gull Island, New York. This bird was banded there in 2016.
