The Mystery of the Folded Blue Tag
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by
wreness
moderator
There have been many questions about this tag since it was first spotted in the very first batch of photos in 2014. What tag is this, really? The list of colored and rare tags is on our boards here (with photos) to help narrow down what you find. There aren't many of them and some are very rare! But this one? It was only seen in October- November - 2010. It's folded in half - sometimes more, sometimes less. Only the "1" shows. We also would see a blue tag that got so folded so tightly that it turned into a little straw. The two got confused; or maybe it was the same tag?
This is when it got weird. Every time someone thought they figured it out, another picture would be found that contradicted that. It's both! Neither! It's Blue 11! It's not! It's Blue18! It's not! They fixed it! Now it's folded again! Now it's a different color! What are they doing out there!
After digging through our amazing photos on Condor Watch, may we present a small historical tour through the Mysterious Folded Blue Tag. What do you think? If you find any new photos, feel free to post them here and what you decide it is. Decision for now: It's Blue 18 but please mark it as 1X when you find it. This identifies the curl.
10-31-2010 Blue 18 not folded - - - - - large photo . . . . . found by mapat
11-3-2010 Blue 18 folded You can see part of the "8" on the underside of the tag. It's Blue18. Mystery solved.
another photo, same day. Note the 3 large, very white, oval wing feathers - an identifying feature of this bird . . . found by Canmore1919
11-12-2010 - Blue 18, folded, up on a scale, close to camera. Note the white wing feathers again . . . . found by brittanymitchell
11-20-2010 - You can tell by the white feathers that this is Blue18
11-24-2010 ...or not. Here's the tag 21 days later. If this was 18, you'd see the curve of the "8" peeking past the edge of the fold, which isn't that severe. It looks like you can see another "1". Maybe this is Blue11? Hmm!
11-28-2010 Blue11 & Blue18 in same photo. Blue11 is visible. Proof folded tag is Blue18. There is much rejoicing. Large photo found by stonepenny
11-28-2010 Then the same day there was this one showing both Blue tags. One was folded like Blue18 seemed to be. But the Blue tag on the left was blurry and it looked like thicker numbering, like an "18". Mayhem ensued. Those thinking it was Blue11 all along said "see? Hah" Those that thought both folded, unfolded and had a Space-Time Continuum issues said, "See? Hah!" Asking for it to just be marked Blue 1X was still routinely begged for and mostly worked 😃
11-29-2010 Blue18 folded. No problem. We're still doing much rejoicing. . . . found by Canmore1919
New Blue tag replacement 11-2011. Much nicer. The older series blue tags were found to bleach almost white from the sun making identification confusing (you may have run into this yourself!) Also - imagine! The tags tended to fold and curl. 😃
7-2007 Folded White 94 - only the 9 is shown This very old tag is hard to see but look like White 9 - only the 9 is visible unless you really enlarge the photo and can see the bit of "something" right at the curled edge.
6-1-2011 Here's another tag that's completely folded into a tube. It's a bit blurry so hard to see if this is a colored tag. The inside looks dark but the outside is white (colored tags are colored on both sides) The bird is a juvenile, so it's probably not Blue since these birds are adults. This tag would be marked as XX and the color left blank.
1-2013 Black curled 8X Due to the angle and the bit of curl all you see is the 8. You can tell there's something else, but what? This would be marked as 8x. It was guessed this was Black 81. That would have been incorrect so guessing is not always good! It turns out This is tag Black84. whose tag clearly showed up in later photos in this series. They always do.
Once Upon A Time a few people on Condor Watch got obsessed with a little side-project after noticing that a certain really horrible looking brown carcass had laid there, uneaten, while the others around it were eaten and even replaced. Why was this? Did it have Cooties? Was it diseased? Do the other animals know this? We felt sorry for it, even. After many weeks of collecting photos (you can search for find them under brown carcass) it was decided that there was no answer. Weird stuff just happens. But it was so fun looking for the photos and helping each other one a "mission", just out of someone's curiosity and comment about it. That's why we're all here!
Do you agree? Disagree? If you find evidence to add to the Tag conspiracy, post your photo link here. Until next time - thanks for all you do for Condor Watch and all the great questions and discussions 😃
Posted
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by
G.Haldursson
Wanted to add to the mystery here with a photo I just received to classify
This is from 9 April 2011 and shows a folded blue tag half torn from the clip.
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