Bird Talk - Erika Gates
Grand Bahama birding group protects nesting seabirds
By Erika Gates
Jul 16, 2012 - 3:18:44 PM

Grand Bahama birders conducted their annual field trip to Peterson Cay, home to a nesting colony of over 200 Bridled Terns.

Bridled Terns are pelagic birds which means they spend their lives at sea and come only to land during their breeding season in the summer.

They lay a single egg in limestone crevices on uninhabited offshore cays and islands.

In order to prevent people from walking through the vegetation and disturbing these nests, possibly crushing eggs and chicks, the birders installed rebar and caution tape around the upper cay nesting colony, leaving the beach open for visitors.

Chick hatching

A sign was placed on the beach as well asking people to stay away from the nesting area and making sure that beach goers keep their dogs on leashes.

The Grand Bahama Birding Group together with Grand Bahama Nature Tours have monitored and protected this Bridled Tern nesting colony for many years.

Erika Gates stated that she was extremely pleased that this years efforts were much improved with proper signage from The Bahamas National Trust.

Erika went on to say: "We were happy to have Denny Moore, Science Research Officer of the BNT come up from Nassau and join us in this effort.

Denny is very skilled in seabird observation and recording and we were able to conclude that this was the largest number of birds and nests recorded in recent years!"

Bridled Tern parent watching over nest area.

Please join the Grand Bahama Birding Group on its next field trip at Garden of the Groves and a side trip to the Least Tern nesting Colony on Discovery Beach this coming Saturday, July 21. at 8:00 a.m. Meet at Garden of the Groves.