Volunteers help maintain successful least tern nesting site at Alameda Point

Volunteers at the Alameda Point nesting site of the endangered California Least Tern continued their efforts this fall after a successful 2014 nesting season.

The Alameda Point colony produced over 350 least tern fledglings this year, and a record number of the nests had three eggs, as opposed to the usual two. The 45 nests with three eggs may be due to in part to better than normal availability of small fish in nearby waters. The terns arrive at the airfield site in early April. By mid-August the terns have headed south to Mexico and Central America.

The first recorded use of the airfield by the least terns was in the mid-1970s when the Navy began efforts to protect their nesting area from vehicle and personnel disturbance. Today, Alameda Point is one of California’s endangered species success stories.

When the terns are gone, volunteers organized by Golden Gate Audubon Society’s Friends of the Alameda Wildlife Reserve perform monthly housekeeping chores in and around the 9.6-acre site on the old airfield. Weeds are a perennial problem and removing them is important for maintaining a clear sightline beach-like landscape for the terns. At the end of each year, the shelters used by the tern chicks – drain tiles and wooden A-frames – are gathered up and set to the side. Oyster shells spread around the site to serve as camouflage for the young chicks being eyed by hawks and falcons are gathered up.

Volunteers also gather up the hundreds of numbered plaster markers that the U.S Fish & Wildlife Service biologist uses to mark the location of each new nest during the nesting season to aid in collecting data. During the winter, the Fish & Wildlife Service is able to smooth out the sand substrate, which is effected by wind and rain, before volunteers return in the new year to put out the shelters and shells prior to the terns return in April.

Eighteen members of the engineering honors society at UC Berkeley, Tau Beta Pi, joined regular volunteers at the monthly work party in November. Tau Beta Pi has been volunteering at the tern nesting site since 2006, sometimes twice a year, as part of their public service commitment. Ten volunteers from Oakland consulting firm Circlepoint came out to help with maintenance work at the tern site during the December work party.

To volunteer at the next work party on Sunday, January 11 at 9 AM, contact Joyce Larrick at jmlarrick@yahoo.com.

Photo gallery (click on any photo to activate manual slideshow)

Circlepoint employees removing weeds during December 2014 work party. Bay Bridge in background.

Tau Beta Pi students unloading drain tiles used by tern chicks for shelter.

Circlepoint employee removing weeds during December 2014 work party. Port of Oakland in background.

Circlepoint employee removing weeds during December 2014 work party.

Tau Beta Pi students from UC Berkeley picking up drain tiles used as tern chick shelters. December 2014 work party.

Least Tern chicks near A-frame shelter in June 2014.

Tau Beta Pi students removing A-frame tern chick shelters during November work party.

Tau Beta Pi students from UC Berkeley unloading drain tile shelters outside of tern nesting area during November 2014 work party.

Least Tern adult sitting on eggs in June of 2014. Nest marker and oyster shell are to the right.

Tau Beta Pi students unloading US Fish and Wildlife Service trailer.

Least Tern adult with chick in June 2014.

Least Tern chick in June 2014, blending in with the sand.