The least terns have again returned to Alameda Point to nest and raise their young. It’s an unlikely spot for a bird that historically has nested on beaches. But with fewer and fewer coastal areas undisturbed by human presence, the Navy runway next to the Bay looked pretty attractive from the sky in the 1970s. Airplanes and vehicles apparently do not look like predators to the least terns. Thus, their humble colony began at Alameda’s Navy base.
Pilots would often see the petite birds, the smallest of the gull family, alongside the runway. Eventually a base commander’s wife took an interest in the terns. By the mid-1980s the Navy was taking steps to protect the terns through placing obstacles near the nesting area to prevent vehicles from running over the terns.
Occasionally someone will say that the extraordinary effort and space devoted to protecting the terns is unnatural. What is unnatural is nearly wiping out an entire bird species so that their feathers could adorn hats in the early 20th Century. What is unnatural is humans usurping traditional beach nesting areas for discretionary recreational use. Habitat loss has been the biggest threat to the least terns, just as it has been with other species.
These are the reasons the California Least Tern is on the Endangered Species List. We put them there. We can do something to help get them off the list. Such has been the work of wildlife biologists, public officials, environmental organizations, and community volunteers in support of the Alameda Point least tern colony.
Volunteers were at work January through early April of this year to ready the nesting area. Volunteers will be monitoring the nesting activity and watching for predators from now until early August when the terns depart. Volunteers will return in September to do more maintenance work.
- The complete story about the tern volunteers, along with a photo slideshow, is posted on the Alameda Point Environmental Report.
- A special day of bus tours to view the terns is scheduled for June 15th. Sign up for the Return of the Terns tour.
