The world according to me....

There have been several cases when I have responded to sea turtle stranding observation that turned out to not be a sea turtle. Just recently, I was called about a non-marine turtle stranding, but I couldn't resist responding because there was a tag involved. I know how valuable tag return data can be. I headed over to the road leading to Piver's Island, but I started tromping around in the wrong spot, ending up lost in the marsh grass (and not for the first time). Fortunately, Zoë Meletis and Noella Gray were close by, and as they were the ones who called me initially, they led me to the spot where the bird lay:

As both Zoë and Noella are founding members of the Duke CSI, they wanted to know as soon as possible the details surrounding this pelican, including when and where it was tagged. Fortunately, when I called in the band number, I was told that I would receive a certificate by mail with those details. Sure enough, this arrived a few days later:

It turns out that you can also report bird bands and other tags online. Check here for more information.