Phippsburg, Maine map 6 totman Cove, Small Point and Dromore Bay
I just saw an evening news piece (WCSH6) about the entire population of 1400 'terns,' (report did not specify species. If the footage was current, they looked like Common to me) having abandoned Matinic Island all at once after a storm recently (?JUne). It's the first time that has been noted, apparently. Fish and Wildlife does not know if they will come back to the island or not and are guessing that the birds will nest on other 'nearby'islands.
Phippsburg is a penninsula, not an island, but we are certainly 'nearby' to Matinic as the tern flies. For days I've noted astonishing numbers of terns around the Burg, hundreds in my own 'yard' here in Totman Cove. We have never seen anything even approaching the numbers we've had in here and up the road on Rt 209 on Dromore Bay.
Does anyone think that these could be the Matinic terns? The numbers we have had are way too many for them to be combined adult and fledged populations, which always jacks up the numbers toward the end of July and into August. These birds I'm seeing all have adult plumage too, not the sooty messy kid stuff of youngsters. Thoughts?
Robin R Robinson
Birding The Burg
http://robins-chaos.blogspot.com
http://robinrobinsonmaine.com
I just saw an evening news piece (WCSH6) about the entire population of 1400 'terns,' (report did not specify species. If the footage was current, they looked like Common to me) having abandoned Matinic Island all at once after a storm recently (?JUne). It's the first time that has been noted, apparently. Fish and Wildlife does not know if they will come back to the island or not and are guessing that the birds will nest on other 'nearby'islands.
Phippsburg is a penninsula, not an island, but we are certainly 'nearby' to Matinic as the tern flies. For days I've noted astonishing numbers of terns around the Burg, hundreds in my own 'yard' here in Totman Cove. We have never seen anything even approaching the numbers we've had in here and up the road on Rt 209 on Dromore Bay.
Does anyone think that these could be the Matinic terns? The numbers we have had are way too many for them to be combined adult and fledged populations, which always jacks up the numbers toward the end of July and into August. These birds I'm seeing all have adult plumage too, not the sooty messy kid stuff of youngsters. Thoughts?
Robin R Robinson
Birding The Burg
http://robins-chaos.blogspot.com
http://robinrobinsonmaine.com
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