Chick shelters decrease avian predation in least tern colonies on Nantucket Island, Massachusetts
-
Published source details
Jenks-Jay N. (1982) Chick shelters decrease avian predation in least tern colonies on Nantucket Island, Massachusetts. Journal of Field Ornithology, 53, 58-60.
Published source details Jenks-Jay N. (1982) Chick shelters decrease avian predation in least tern colonies on Nantucket Island, Massachusetts. Journal of Field Ornithology, 53, 58-60.
Actions
This study is summarised as evidence for the following.
Action | Category | |
---|---|---|
Physically protect nests with individual exclosures/barriers or provide shelters for chicks of ground nesting seabirds Action Link |
![]() |
-
Physically protect nests with individual exclosures/barriers or provide shelters for chicks of ground nesting seabirds
A before-and-after study from 1978-1980 at seven least tern Sterna antillarum colonies on Nantucket Island, Massachusetts, USA (Jenks-Jay 1982) found that predation rates on chicks were greatly reduced following the provision of chick shelters (43 cm high cones made from 11 slats, with a 66 cm basal diameter), compared to previous years. In 1978, a pair of American kestrels Falco sparverius ‘greatly reduced’ tern productivity at a colony by removing a tern chick approximately every 15 minutes for two hours, whereas a pair of northern harriers Circus cyaneus reduced productivity at another colony by 80% in 1979 (four chicks from 20 nests escaping). In 1980, with shelters present, no kestrels or harriers were seen hunting within the tern colonies, although they were present in the vicinity.
Output references
|