Nest Site Selection in Least Terns (Sterna antillarum) in New Jersey and New York

Publisher Website
Google Scholar
Abstract
East Coast Least Terns (Sterna antillarum) generally nest in relatively barren, homogeneous habitats of broad sandy beaches on barrier islands or on spoil deposition sites. We studied Least Terns at several New York (N = 4) and New Jersey colonies. About 300 pairs of Least Terns nested along 2 km of beach on Brigantine Beach, NJ in 1983. The New York colonies contained from 20-300 pairs estimated from single visits in 1971, 1974 and 1977. At most sites choice of nest sites differed from random with respect to position on the beach, elevation and slope, shell cover, vegetation cover, and distance to vegetation. Terns preferred to nest in the middle third of the beach, on areas with shell cover, and on ridges and slopes. On sparsely vegetated beaches, nests were closer to vegetation than were the random points; on heavily vegetated areas, nests were further from vegetation than were the random points. At Brigantine, fox and cats entered the colony from the dunes and preyed heavily on nests closet to the dunes. Terns nesting during the peak of the season fledged the most young and suffered the fewest losses to predators. At Brigantine, disturbance was less at the ends of the colony, resulting in higher reproductive success in these sections. In the Long Island colonies beach vehicles, humans, and cats were the main causes of egg clutch mortality.

This publication has 0 references indexed in Scilit: