About This Project

Aleutian terns are a rare and little studied seabird species that nests semi-colonially in remote areas of coastal Alaska and the Russian Far East; available evidence suggests that Alaskan populations are in a serious decline, but more research is needed. We propose to use “social attraction” - decoys and playback of calls - to get Aleutian terns to temporarily roost a short distance away from a colony, so that they can be captured for a variety of studies without disturbing them at their nests.

Ask the Scientists

What is the context of this research?

A recent study of Aleutian tern colony counts in Alaska indicate that the number of individuals nesting at known colonies has declined dramatically (93% over three generations; Renner et al. 2015). If the decline in colony counts represents a true population decline, that would qualify the species as “critically endangered” under IUCN criteria. Questions remain, however, such as could birds have moved to new and undiscovered nesting colonies? Several important studies are proposed, including tracking tern movements using satellite telemetry tags. One challenge is capturing terns without causing detrimental impacts to their colony. Capturing terns at their nests requires repeated entries into a breeding colony, each of which disturbs at least some if not all of the nesting birds.

What is the significance of this project?

The proposed method to enhance Aleutian tern capture opportunities away from nesting colonies would allow research methods to address critical conservation questions, which might otherwise be considered too invasive for this sensitive species. Experimental wildlife research often involves the capture and handling of individual animals. Because terns nest colonially, not only might the captured individual associate a stressful event with its breeding location, neighboring nesting terns would also be disturbed and might react negatively. These additional impacts are particularly a problem in species like Aleutian terns, which can be sensitive to disturbance. Tagging individual terns away from their colony is a reliable way to avoid such impacts.

What are the goals of the project?

Our project goal is to use social attraction to facilitate capture of individual Aleutian terns away from their colony. To achieve this goal we would acquire decoys and a sound system during the fall and winter 2016-2017 and use them to capture terns nearby one or more colony sites prior to or during the 2017 breeding season. The ultimate goal is to use satellite tracking to reveal whether Aleutian terns prospect at currently unknown colonies, testing the hypothesis that the observed decline is due to movement to unknown colonies. We plan to publish the results of this study and help managers in state and federal wildlife agencies understand just how at risk the Aleutian tern population may be.