Subject: Fw: CASPIAN TERNS NESTING IN BELLINGHAM?
Date: Aug 1 22:28:32 2002
From: Wayne C. Weber - contopus at shaw.ca


Birders,

The following note by Terry Wahl (forwarded from the WHATCOM BIRDS
group) should be of interest to many of you.

Despite claims to the contrary in Volume 2 of "The Birds of British
Columbia" by Campbell et al., I do not believe that Caspian Terns have
been convincingly shown to breed in British Columbia. The one breeding
record cited in the book seems suspect. It was not documented on film,
and this species almost always breeds in colonies (often with gulls),
not in isolated pairs. However, if Caspian Terns have not yet nested
in B.C., it may not be long until they do.

Wayne C. Weber
Kamloops and Delta, BC
contopus at shaw.ca


----- Original Message -----
From: Terry Wahl
To: <whatcombirds at lists.wwu.edu>; <sgmlod at aol.com>
Sent: Tuesday, July 30, 2002 4:24 PM
Subject: (no subject)


Recent sightings/hearings have led to the almost certain (99%+)
conclusion
that Caspian Terns nested here successfully this summer. For the past
week or 10 days I have had daily sightings of young birds following
adults, with
typical obnoxious KRAW from the adult, WEEEP from the HY. One day had
5 adults overhead with 1 young, all vocalizing, and several times at
night we
have heard vocal interchanges. This likely represents successful
nesting on a building roof, undescribed in the lit.

The terns occupy parts of several roofs at Bellingham Cold Storage and
neighborhood, and not all can be thoroughly scanned, even from above
on
Eldridge Ave. But they're there. Estimate 300 or so, as last few
years, and
last year I heard the adult-young calls or saw them several times.

The terns nest a month or so earlier than the gulls. We have to do
more
thorough checks next year, starting in May.

Gulls likely make the terns feel at home. I estimated 100 nests atop
BCS and adjacent buildings, 20 or so on Morse Steel on W Illinois St,
lots on the
cement plant buildings, and they nest on a number of buildings along
the
central waterfront. Young of the year (HYs) are readily visible now,
should
fly within the next month. Probably several hundred non-breeding
Glaucous-winged Gulls and a couple hundred or so non-breeding
Ring-bills
roosting on BCS roofs. All we need is more gulls.

Geri Walker says she saw a jaeger off the marina a week or so ago.
All is not boring.

Terry Wahl