by Zoe Diaz-Martin, Intern USF&WS
Sunday, June 30, 2013
This year hatching on Falkner began around the 12th of June. On tern colonies many eggs hatch right around the same time, shortly after the first eggs hatch, creating a hatching peak. The annual tern census is completed right after the first eggs hatch and right before the hatching peak. During the tern census, we tally every common tern nest on the island as well as the number of eggs and chicks in each nest. The 2013 census was successfully completed on June 13th. We tallied thousands of nests. Falkner Island has 2974 common tern nests this year which is 478 nests more than last year despite habitat losses to the beaches. That means that the terns do not have as much space as in 2012 but there are more of them. This “crowding” may cause more competition for resources amongst the terns.
This year’s hatching peak has just ended. We currently have 86 banded common tern chicks and 22 banded roseate chicks. Although the peak is over, we still have a few chicks hatching everyday. [Read more…]