Long-time Menunkatuck member Dr Jeffrey A. Spendelow has been studying Roseate Terns (ROST) (Sterna dougallii) since he helped start the Falkner Island Tern Project (FITP) in 1978. In 1981 changed the focus of the project to concentrate on Roseate Tern research due to concerns about the declining North Atlantic breeding population of this species.
Audubon’s Bird Migration Explorer illustrates the breeding area abundance of ROSTs (above) and the post breeding staging area abundance (below).
Roseate Terns (ROST) (Sterna dougallii) can be found on the coasts of six continents. In North America they are found mainly in the northeast and sparsely in Florida where they breed on offshore islands. The population that breeds the the northeast nests from as far north as Country Island in northern Nova Scotia, to as far southwest as Falkner Island, CT. While the worldwide ROST population is stable, this northwest Atlantic population is endangered.
Since 1987 the Cooperative Roseate Tern Metapopulation Project (CRTMP) has been integrating results of several research studies to evaluate the relative importance of current factors and future threats that may limit population recovery.
While it has long been known that after nesting is over ROSTs come to staging sites in the “Cape and Islands” area of southeastern MA to prepare for their migration to wintering areas off the north and east coasts of South America, research confirms that roughly 75-90% of all the young terns from Connecticut to Nova Scotia become highly concentrated at a few staging sites around the greater Cape Cod area from August-September and that Cape Cod National Seashore has staging sites of previously unrecognized importance.
This research is of particular importance because the ROSTs migration route is directly over the Atlantic Ocean to to their wintering areas. In this path are areas that are possible threats to this species from the construction and operation of offshore wind-energy turbines in the MA-RI-NY-CT area.
Jeff’s presentation will highlight the results of some recent research and discuss future research needs. The program will begin with “Young of the Year” an award-winning short documentary film by Kris Holodak which shows the challenges faced by Roseate Terns during the period from hatching through the pre-migratory staging period until they leave North America in the late summer/early fall followed by a PowerPoint presentation that will go into more detail about the current research he and his team are doing at the pre-migratory staging sites.
After more than 35 years of working for the U.S. government, Jeff officially retired at the end of 2018 to become an Emeritus Research Wildlife Biologist with the U.S. Geological Survey. Jeff, however, continues to conduct research on the endangered NW Atlantic breeding population of Roseate Terns (ROSTs) and to direct the (CRTMP.
Maps credit: Smith, Melanie A., John Mahoney, Erika J. Knight, Lotem Taylor, Nathaniel E. Seavy, O’Connor H. Bailey, Marco Carbone, William DeLuca, Nicolas S. Gonzalez, Miguel F. Jimenez, Gadalia M. W. O'Bryan, Nalini Rao, Chad J. Witko, Chad Wilsey, and Jill L. Deppe. 2022. Bird Migration Explorer. National Audubon Society, New York, NY. Accessed on January 29, 2023 at birdmigrationexplorer.org.