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Least tern chicks banded by volunteers

Handout photo

As a shorebird, the least tern is competing with humans for prime beach locations.

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By LORRAINE MARGESON

Special to the Tribune

Published: July 2, 2009

ST PETERSBURG - The least tern is a species in decline here and throughout the United States, a beautiful beach-nesting shorebird in constant and life-threatening competition for prime spots on Tampa Bay's white sandy beaches.

In spring and summer the terns compete for their breeding grounds with human beachgoers and often turn to gravel rooftops on industrial buildings and condominiums rather than fight for space on crowded shores.

Numerous volunteers spend the majority of their summers as bird stewards, monitoring posted areas for nesting birds at places such as Shell Key Preserve, Fort De Soto Park, Egmont Key State Park and Honeymoon Island. There also are volunteer "chick checkers" who visit rooftop nesting areas of least terns, black skimmers and American oystercatchers, looking for chicks that fall off their precarious rooftop nests.

This year, under the federal banding permit of doctoral candidate Marianne Korosy and the leadership of project director and Eckerd College professor Beth Forys, chicks that fall from rooftops are being color-banded to see whether they return to the same rooftops to reproduce.

Some of the banded chicks have shown up on Clearwater Beach.

If you see least tern fledglings with yellow, red, green or orange bands on their legs, contact Korosy at mkorosy@gmail.com.

If you see twine and signs denoting posted nesting areas, don't trespass.

Lorraine Margeson is an environmental activist and St. Petersburg businesswoman. Keyword, Least Terns, to view a photo gallery of the banding.

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