Census Data on the Interior Least Tern (Sterna antillarum athalassos) Lower Mississippi River Valley 1985-2003

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Census Data on the Interior Least Tern (Sterna
antillarum athalassos) Lower Mississippi
River Valley 1985-2003
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Interior Least Tern (Sterna antillarum athalassos)
Tern of the Antilles away from the sea
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Summer Breeding Range for all Least Terns
athalassos
brownii
antillarum
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Census Techniques

• Aerial (discontinued in 1998)
• Towboat (discontinued in 1995)
• Small boat (present method)

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Reasons for endangerment

• Harvesting of feathers for millenary trade
  (mainly coastal populations)

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Reasons for endangerment

• Harvesting of feathers for millenary trade
  (mainly coastal populations)
• Loss of breeding habitat due to
• Building of reservoirs

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Reasons for endangerment

• Harvesting of feathers for millenary trade
  (mainly coastal populations)
• Loss of breeding habitat due to
• Building of reservoirs
• Channelization and other modifications to river
  systems

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Reasons for endangerment

• Harvesting of feathers for millenary trade
  (mainly coastal populations)
• Loss of breeding habitat due to
• Building of reservoirs
• Channelization and other modifications to river
  systems
• Increased recreational use of sandbars

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Thanks to Mark Twain, the Mississippi River
attracts people from around the world looking for
adventure
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Some folks make a Life on the Mississippi for
themselves.
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Reasons for endangerment

• Harvesting of feathers for millenary trade
  (mainly coastal populations)
• Loss of breeding habitat due to
• Building of reservoirs
• Channelization and other modifications to river
  systems
• Increased recreational use of sandbars
• Rapid fluctuations in river stages due to channel
  modifications, dam releases, etc.

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Reasons for endangerment

• Harvesting of feathers for millenary trade
  (mainly coastal populations)
• Loss of breeding habitat due to
• Building of reservoirs
• Channelization and other modifications to river
  systems
• Increased recreational use of sandbars
• Rapid fluctuations in river stages due to channel
  modifications, dam releases, etc.
• Predator pressure

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A coyote, probably the 1 predation threat along
the Mississippi river, captured on film during
the aerial survey in 1997.
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Courtship involves gifts of fish and other
treasures that advertise a males prowess
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Oddly enough, some gifts are refused, like this
grasshopper
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Often scrapes are located near debris or
driftwood. Is this for identification purposes?
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or along wrack lines from drift wood left at
high water lines.
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Often a sand and gravel mix provides the best
camouflage.
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Three eggs per nest is the most common .
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Terns prefer remote bars with little vegetation
that might provide cover for terrestrial
predators.
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and the ones NOT attached to the river bank are
selected for the same reason, perhaps?
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unlike this bar, with both vegetation and a land
bridge.
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Once hatching starts, the rest are soon to follow
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to avoid burning tender feet on really hot sand,
the chicks will often fall back on their
haunches so to speak.
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and after about 1 weeks worth of growth on a
high protein diet of fish and occasional aquatic
invertebrates, the young will run from most
threats
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and seek available structures for hiding.
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Not bad, plus its in the shade.
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Recovery Criteriain Mississippi Valley2,500
stable for 10 years
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Recovery Criteria entire inland
population7,000stable for 10 years
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