Lake Puckaway: Common Tern Nesting Raft: May 24, 2013 update.

Too many terns???

Lake Puckaway has been home to the endangered Forster's Tern for decades; now the District is attempting to get the endangered Common Tern to nest on the lake as well, by placing the nesting rafts made from old pontoons. Apparently, the Forster's are a big fan of this beach property too. On Friday, approximately 37 Forster's terns were busily preening or leisurely resting on railings or on the pea gravel inside Raft A (Western). Three Common Terns were also there. While I watched the raft, terns kept coming and going, leading me to believe Raft A is being visited by 60-100 of these endangered birds each day. The raft itself could probably only hold the nests of 15 pairs, and that would be a dense nesting population. No nests on the raft. I was curious to see how disturbed the birds were after I had spent 15 minutes attaching new signs, so I counted how long it took for a tern to return: 29 seconds.

I also saw something I wasn't really expecting, and that was a flock of 16 Ruddy Turnstones, members of the sandpiper family, attempting to land inside the raft. Some saw my ugly mug and floppy hat and flew off, but others landed and were the last birds to leave when I approached within twenty feet of the raft. Ruddy Turnstones are only passing through on their way to their nesting grounds within the Arctic Circle. While they are here they are neat to see, but unfortunately they will also eat tern eggs. Fly on, Turnstones.

Raft B (Eastern), which is closer to boat traffic, has fewer birds on it, only 2-3 at a time, but maybe this will give the Common Terns some needed space to nest. For those who like to fish the small cane bed nearby, casting into it from the channel side should not disturb the birds too much. Thanks for giving them some space.

Common Tern Raft Update: For 2014 tern rafts are both located behind "Bird Island" and raft B is now east of raft A .