Photo By Taylor Bozman | 20240725-N-HB354-3002 – GREAT LAKES, IL (July 25, 2024) - Luke and Max Regner, Lake...... read more read more
Subscribe
GREAT LAKES, Ill. (August 15, 2024) – The common tern bird colony located at Naval Station Great Lakes (NSGL) had an excellent nesting season in 2024.
This is the only common tern nesting colony in Illinois for the state-endangered species. For this nesting season, there were 22 nests built, 69 eggs laid and 33 successfully fledged young.
Partnerships among several agencies, along with the sheer determination of both humans and birds, made this magnificent progress possible. Brad Semel, biologist with the Illinois Department of Natural Resources specializing in endangered species; Taylor Bozman, natural resources manager at NSGL; and Donnie Dann, longtime Bird Conservation Network leader and volunteer, played lead roles in the effort and monitored the terns for over two decades.
“I want to express my deep appreciation to Brad [Semel] and Taylor [Bozman] for their assistance and allowing me to participate in this exciting and successful effort in bird conservation,” said Dann.
Previous years have been a rollercoaster of setbacks for this critical colony. Storms, pollution, flooding, predation, and the degradation of shoreline habitat had caused devastating losses. Additionally, fish contaminated by polychlorinated biphenyls, oily, synthetic chemicals that can contaminate certain fish, killed young terns in 2012. Fences were placed to deter predators, and major cleanup efforts were undertaken along the shore of Lake Michigan. Nevertheless, the colony would still be flooded or predated each year.
In 2019, the team collaborated with Eagle Scout Troop 46 to construct and anchor a floating nesting platform in NSGL’s harbor to prevent predators like mink from accessing the nests. Another two platforms were subsequently added. Since then, the terns’ nesting success has finally increased.
| Date Taken: | 08.16.2024 |
| Date Posted: | 08.16.2024 10:48 |
| Story ID: | 478820 |
| Location: | GREAT LAKES, ILLINOIS, US |
| Web Views: | 74 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
This work, Terrific News for NSGL Common Tern Colony, by PO2 Matt Hall, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
No keywords found.
