Going TERNanas

The Terns have arrived! (See blogpost "Saving the California Least Tern - in my view"). Before the actual Ternwatching, we had a "class" in the Audubon Office (It was still under construction, sort of). We learned exactly what to do and how to record data on these charts. We had to sign up for dates and times to ternwatch. Ternwatching is where you go to this particular site in Mission Bay and count how many terns there are and specially LOOK FOR PREDATORS! Some predators are like the Western Gull, Caspian Tern. Main ones are raptors like Peregrine Falcon. They eat the chicks themselves. Other predators eat eggs. Remember that the California Least Terns are endangered.

To get ready we had to

• Drive to the Audubon Office
• Pick up the gear bag for our site
• Drive to the site
• And start watching the Terns

 Last Sunday, we got ready and the site we went to was Mariner's Point. That was where we plucked the filaree. I had no idea! We parked our car and went over a Berm and started our tern watching. The gear bag contained

• Clipboard and pen with Predator Charts
• A field guide
• Binoculars

The View from the Berm

I wasn't expecting to see so many terns! They were probably like 70 of them. Whenever they fly up in the air it was either because of a predator or they need to go fishing. Although the osprey is not a predator, the terns are still not familiar with it. So they fly up. Other reactions are

• Mobbing the predator
• Staying silent
• No reaction

The terns were actually nesting there and I saw one in its nest. The thing is once they land, you can see them, but immediately you lose them because they can easily camouflage with the sand. Surprisingly here and there you can see their little black heads.

The predators I saw were Egrets, Western Gulls (one was actually nesting so close - we think so, because it was carrying lots of nesting material), Caspian Terns and their orange beaks. Other birds we saw were Pelicans, Cormorants, Osprey, Elegant Tern and Sparrows.

The weather just picked up and it was so windy! So I left the top of the berm. I collected shells while my mom was keeping an eye. I told my mom to call me when there was strange behaviors.

Next week we are supposed to keep an eye out for Crows, Ravens who take eggs and stash them a lot at a time, and also Peregrine Falcon and Kestrels. We also should keep an eye on the gull and its nest.

This was one of the best experiences I had with Bird watching! I'll keep writing updates on my other ternwatches.

P.S: i brought my own binoculars instead of using theirs
P.P.S: How many times have I used the word terns in this post?
P.P.P.S: Think of the title and let me know your comments