Terns: Monitoring

We’re on Great Gull Island on Long Island Sound, where over the next few months, Common and Roseate terns will be raising their newly hatched chicks. As part of a continuing study of the dynamics of this island sanctuary, a handful of scientists and volunteers have the daunting task of tracking the life history of over 20,000 birds. I’m Jim Metzner, and this is the Pulse of the Planet, presented by the American Museum of Natural History.

Helen Hays is Director of the Great Gull Island Project.

“I’m banding– putting this aluminum Fish and Wildlife Service band on the bird’s leg. He’ll wear this the rest of his life. And we hope that he’ll come back in about two, three years and nest here. See this band is number 119822- 29685. That number is only given to one bird, this bird and you can always identify him by that number when he comes back to nest. This year we’ve had more nests than we’ve ever marked before. We’ve marked over 11,000 nests.

We’re getting data on the age of the adults, we’re getting data on whether or not they’re back with the same mate, or a different mate. We’re getting data on how many chicks they hatch and how many chicks they raise and this all goes into the computer and we keep histories on all of these birds.”

This data gives us a better understanding of the birds, and will ultimately enable scientists to help save endangered species such as the Roseate tern, which nests on Great Gull Island.

Pulse of the Planet is presented by the American Museum of Natural History. Additional funding for this series has been provided by the National Science Foundation. I’m Jim Metzner.

Terns: Monitoring

Scientists on Great Gull Island are keeping track of the terns which use the island as a summer breeding ground.
Air Date:06/17/1998
Scientist:
Transcript:

We're on Great Gull Island on Long Island Sound, where over the next few months, Common and Roseate terns will be raising their newly hatched chicks. As part of a continuing study of the dynamics of this island sanctuary, a handful of scientists and volunteers have the daunting task of tracking the life history of over 20,000 birds. I'm Jim Metzner, and this is the Pulse of the Planet, presented by the American Museum of Natural History.

Helen Hays is Director of the Great Gull Island Project.

"I'm banding-- putting this aluminum Fish and Wildlife Service band on the bird's leg. He'll wear this the rest of his life. And we hope that he'll come back in about two, three years and nest here. See this band is number 119822- 29685. That number is only given to one bird, this bird and you can always identify him by that number when he comes back to nest. This year we've had more nests than we've ever marked before. We've marked over 11,000 nests.

We're getting data on the age of the adults, we're getting data on whether or not they're back with the same mate, or a different mate. We're getting data on how many chicks they hatch and how many chicks they raise and this all goes into the computer and we keep histories on all of these birds."

This data gives us a better understanding of the birds, and will ultimately enable scientists to help save endangered species such as the Roseate tern, which nests on Great Gull Island.

Pulse of the Planet is presented by the American Museum of Natural History. Additional funding for this series has been provided by the National Science Foundation. I'm Jim Metzner.