The Brothers as seen from Lower West Pubnico. (2005 Ted D'Eon photo)

The Brothers are two tiny islands about 1 km west of Lower West Pubnico, Nova Scotia, Canada.
They are owned by the province and were designated a wildlife management area in April 2007.
Access to them during nesting season (April 1 to Aug. 31) is by permit only.

In 2017, the tern colony on The Brothers (actually only on North Brother) was abandoned partway through the nesting season. Strong winds and high tides washed out some of the tern nests early during the incubation phase. The number of nests was low to start with, and with the nest wash out, most of the terns left; gulls and crows finished off the colony.

By early July 2017, some of our missing birds were found nesting on Gull Island, 8 km to the northwest of North Brothers. Some of the ROST whose nests had been depredated by the crows and gulls on North Brother, actually renested on Gull Island.

In 2018, we don't believe The Brothers fledged any chicks. On June 16, 2018, there were 74 tern nests (including 2 ROST nests) on North Brother; later in the season the nests were gone as well as the nesting terns.

Gull Island did a lot better, even though we had not deployed any ROST nesting shelters, on June 16, 2019, we counted 317 tern nests, including 27 ROST nests. Eventually, we had 35 or 37 ROST nests. The last 2 may have been a second attempt at nesting.

I don't have a firm number on productivity, but I think it was "half decent"; there was a lot of predation by GBBG when the tern chicks were almost fledged.

This report will cover work being done on both Gull Island and North Brother, mostly from my perspective.

My work on these islands is done in cooperation with Canadian Wildlife Service (CWS) and the Nova Scotia Department of Lands and Forestry (NSDLF). - Ted D'Eon

THE BROTHERS, Yarmouth County, Nova Scotia

North BROTHERS and GULL ISLAND, Yarmouth County, Nova Scotia

2019 Summary

Our objective is to prevent the extirpation of ROST from Canada by implementing recovery measures prescribed in the Action Plan for ROST in Canada. Recently, recovery efforts have focused on breeding colonies and includes population monitoring, protecting critical habitat, reducing threats and developing a better understanding of basic population dynamics and potential limiting factors. Despite efforts, the population has declined by about half since 2000.

Colony description

North Brother Island was re-colonized after being abandoned in 2017 and became, once again, the primary breeding colony for Roseate Terns (ROST) in Canada. The island lies approximately 0.7 km offshore, is low-lying, and is formed of sediments from sand to boulder size cobble with a small vegetated area on remnant till and guano. A small tidal pond in the central depression of the island rarely dries out. North Brother Island provides approximately 1,200m2 of nesting habitat for Arctic Terns (ARTE), Common Terns (COTE), ROST and Common Eiders. The Brothers Islands (North and South) are designated as a provincial Wildlife Management Area, an Important Bird Area, and are identified as critical habitat for ROST under Canada's Species at Risk Act.

Despite actively managing Gull Island for terns in 2019 (i.e., social attraction, predator management and nest boxes), ROST did not attempt to nest. Gull Island is a privately held island located approximately 8 km northwest of North Brother Island. This 3.5 ha teardrop-shaped island is ringed by a cobble beach. The island is relatively flat and low-lying, lacking trees, with a small (0.5 ha) tidally influenced pond in the southwest corner. In addition to terns, the island provides breeding habitat for a number of Common Eiders (48 nests in 2019) and is currently supporting a Great Black-backed Gull colony (133 nest in 2019).

Colony recovery efforts

In Southwest Nova Scotia, recovery efforts (i.e., gull management activities and nesting shelters) in 2019 were prioritised on Gull Island and not on North Brother Island, assuming terns would return to Gull Island. In addition, a social attraction system was deployed on Gull Island.

Ground surveys for terns in Southwest Nova Scotia

A. d'Entremont visited a number of sites in Southwest Nova Scotia for tern surveys in 2019 but did not find evidence of breeding ROST. A single adult was observed at Coffin Island in the midst of a large mixed-species tern colony and another adult (unbanded) was observed on Pinch Gut Island but breeding was not confirmed at either island.

North Brother Island and Gull Island

After abandoning North Brother Island in 2017 due to intense predation by American Crows and scattering to a handful of islands in 2017 and 2018, the terns retuned in force to North Brother Island in 2019. Terns were seen prospecting early on Gull Island but did not settle.

Non-lethal predator management methods were unsuccessful and many gulls remained on territory throughout the breeding season (heavily supplemented by lobster fishery discards). Instead, terns rapidly colonized North Brother Island and began nesting.

One Great Black-Backed Gull nest was removed from North Brother Island. The eggs were notably cold suggesting the tern response was effective at deterring the gulls from incubating this clutch.

We conducted a tern census on North Brother Island on 18 June with five observers. Since we followed at least most ROST and ARTE nests initiated during peak nesting, we estimated the number of COTE nests by obtaining the difference between the total number of nests counted and the number of identified ROST + ARTE nests. We estimated 372 COTE nests and counted 35 ARTE and 47 ROST nests. The year-end count for ROST was 52 pairs. Hatching success for followed ROST nests was very high at 95% (n=48). We assessed fledging success for each species using a mark-recapture approach involving two banding periods. Fledging success was estimated to be 0.9, 0.69 and 1.0 for COTE, ARTE and ROST, respectively. We were able to band 49 young ROST in 2019 but did not trap adults.

Resighting efforts resulted in 44 individual adult ROST encounters throughout the season, the majority of which were originally banded on North Brother Island.

ROST Pairs at Canadian colonies in the last 10 years

See below for a snapshot of the 2019 tern season.

OBSERVATIONS:

March 29, 2019 - We had the good fortune of getting the Nova Scotia Department of Lands and Forestry (NSDLF) helicopter for most of the day to remove old, washed up lobster traps and other debris/garbage from Gull Island. The helicopter also transported my disassembled plywood blind to the island in one of the transits.

It removed from the island 53 lobster traps, a few buoys and balloons, rope, plastic bottles, and other general garbage. Some pile of stuff! A great job by the NSDLF crew and their superb pilot!

My job was to unload the cargo nets and trailer their contents away for later disposal in the municipal dump.

My assistants (No, we didn't get to go in the helicopter) were Nigel D'Eon, Missie D'Eon, and Alix d'Entremont. Thank you all!

See photos below:

NS Dept of Lands and Forestry helicopter - Abbott's Harbour, NS, March 29, 2019 - Ted D'Eon photo

The Gull Island Cleanup - Abbott's Harbour, NS, March 29, 2019 - Ted D'Eon photo

The Gull Island Cleanup - Abbott's Harbour, NS, March 29, 2019 - Ted D'Eon photo

The Gull Island Cleanup - Abbott's Harbour, NS, March 29, 2019 - Ted D'Eon photo

The Gull Island Cleanup - Abbott's Harbour, NS, March 29, 2019 - Ted D'Eon photo

The Gull Island Cleanup with Nigel, Missie, and Alix - Abbott's Harbour, NS, March 29, 2019 - Ted D'Eon photo

The Gull Island Cleanup - Abbott's Harbour, NS, March 29, 2019 - Ted D'Eon photo

The Gull Island Cleanup - March 29, 2019 - Ted D'Eon photo

The Gull Island Cleanup - March 29, 2019 - Ted D'Eon photo

Bird bones in one of the Gull Island lobster traps - March 29, 2019 - Ted D'Eon photo

April 18, 2019 - A very disappointing morning! All my fault!

With the crew of Andrew D'Eon and Terry Bourque, I planned my first trip to Gull Island to drop off my 500 lb concrete anchor block near the island, and to take 50 Roseate Tern (ROST) shelters ashore, as well as my disassembled platform for the plywood blind which I constructed years ago and never used.

Anyway, I got the boat in the water but I couldn't get it started! It would turn over but not start. I had had it to the mechanic the day before for an oil change, etc., and the motor was working perfectly.

I tried 2 more batteries but still no luck with the motor, so I scrapped the day to the island and trailered the boat and motor back to the mechanic's.

He quickly diagnosed the problem. I have a memory problem (I have had it for years)!

With the ignition key, there is a plastic clip which is supposed to be attached to the "kill" switch; it wasn't attached thereby preventing the motor from starting!

I just hadn't clued in.

Ted

April 19, 2019 - A single tern was seen at Abbott's Harbour by Daryl Amirault and Herbert Nickerson.

April 24, 2019 - Aldric D'Eon reported seeing a tern 46 nautical miles west of Pubnico Point.

April 24, 2019 - We try again. This time with crew, Professor Shawn Craik (Université Sainte Anne), Shawn's student, Kristen Noel, and Missie D'Eon.

The boat was loaded down.

Loaded down boat - April 24, 2019 - Ted D'Eon photo

Kristen and Shawn dropping anchor - April 24, 2019 - Missie D'Eon photo

The stuff we brought ashore on Gull Island - April 24, 2019 - Ted D'Eon photo

Kristen and Shawn setting up Common Eider nesting shelters on Gull Island - April 24, 2019 - Ted D'Eon photo

A Canada Goose nest on Gull Island - April 24, 2019 - Ted D'Eon photo

Shawn documenting the Canada Goose nest; Gull Island - April 24, 2019 - Ted D'Eon photo

Disassembled blind brought earlier to the island by helicopter; Gull Island - April 24, 2019 - Ted D'Eon photo

A young Grey Seal (I think we caught it sleeping on the beach); Gull Island - April 24, 2019 - Ted D'Eon photo

April 25, 2019 - Another helicopter day!

Pam Mills of the NS Dept. of Lands and Forestry (NSDLF) arranged for their helicopter to be used to transport a wide array materials and equipment to Gull Island. This included 2 plywood blinds, including the mounting bases, 2 sound systems run by solar panels and 4 very heavy batteries, and a pretty sophisticated weather station. The helicopter also transported the crew (us) to the island to begin the assembly of everything. We had the use of the helicopter for 5 or 6 hours and we accomplished a lot, Even the pilot was working with us, wherever he could lend a hand.

Pam's 2 blinds and the platform for my blind were set up and so was the weather station. Our time ran out before the sound systems were operational. The sound systems would be used to squawk out tern colony sounds in order to entice passing terns to settle down and nest.

The crew consisted of Pam Mills, Julie McKnight, Shawn Craik, Nick Knutson, Kristen Noel, Justin Amero (NSDLF),Jason Airst (NSDLF), Ardel Smith (pilot), and me.

See photos below:

Some of the crew: Pam, Julie, Justin, Shawn, Nick, and Kristen - Abbott's Harbour - April 25, 2019 - Ted D'Eon photo

Ardel, Pam, and Jason - Abbott's Harbour - April 25, 2019 - Ted D'Eon photo

Justin and Pam - Abbott's Harbour - April 25, 2019 - Ted D'Eon photo

Shawn and Nick heading out to Gull Island - Abbott's Harbour - April 25, 2019 - Ted D'Eon photo

Julie, working on the sound systems - Gull Island - April 25, 2019 - Ted D'Eon photo

The 2 blinds and the platform - Gull Island - April 25, 2019 - Ted D'Eon photo

The helicopter - Gull Island - April 25, 2019 - Ted D'Eon photo

A selfie of me and Pam, on our way back to Abbott's Harbour - April 25, 2019 - Ted D'Eon photo

April 26, 2019 - Lobster fisherman, Edouard D'Eon, reported seeing terns near The Brothers.

April 30, 2019 - Gull Island

The crew this time: Julie McKnight, Nick Knutson, Natalie Thimot. and Matthew Deagle.

We had a long day! We left Abbott's Harbour around 8:45am and got back to the wharf around 5:15pm (with no time for breaks)!

With all the wind we had had, I was concerned to see if the plywood blinds and platform, and the weather station were still in place; they were all fine; just as we had left them.

Julie got the sound systems working properly while Matthew and I assembled my plywood blind on the top of the the platform.

Nick, Natalie, and Matthew worked at setting up the Roseate Tern (ROST) nesting shelters.

Once the above had been taken care of, a sweep of the island was undertook to document and destroy Great Black-backed Gull (GBBG) nests. Nests containing 2 or 3 eggs were destroyed (under permit); those containing only one egg were left alone for the moment. 39 GBBG nests were destroyed.

One (I think just one) Common Eider (COEI) nest containing 3 eggs was found; it was not in any of the man-made shelters.

The Canada Goose nest had been depredated, presumably by GBBG.

Some photos below:

Natalie and Nick setting up ROST nesting shelters on Gull Island - April 30, 2019 - Ted D'Eon photo

Julie working on one of the sound systems - Gull Island - April 30, 2019 - Ted D'Eon photo

The weather system (looking south) - Gull Island - April 30, 2019 - Ted D'Eon photo

The southwest corner of Gull Island (looking to the east) - April 30, 2019 - Ted D'Eon photo

The three plywood observation blinds - Gull Island - April 30, 2019 - Ted D'Eon photo

The crew: Nick, Matthew, Natalie, and Julie - April 30, 2019 - Ted D'Eon photo

May 1, 2019 Ben Morton's cousin, a lobster fisherman, reported seeing a tern near Whitehead (a few km to the east of Gull Island).

May 6, 2019 - A bummer of a trip to Gull Island.

We had an easterly wind, but I thought we would be able to land on the island.

I motored there okay, but with the wind and swell, it would have been dangerous to try a landing on Gull Island.

We could hear the sound system so we assumed it to be working fine.

Crew: Julie McKnight. Nick Knutson, Natalie Thimot, and Matthew Deagle.

May 7, 2019 - Gull Island. A much better day than yesterday.

9 terns seen but they seemed to be just passing through: 6 of unidentified species, 2 Common Terns (COTE), and 1 Arctic Tern (ARTE).

Gull Island (looking to the south) - May 7, 2019 - Ted D'Eon photo

Early this morning, I was scoping Gull Island from my house (it's 8 km away) and thought I could see terns dive bombing something on there. I said to my wife that the terns looked rather large and looked more like gulls. I figured atmospheric conditions were the cause.

At the tern nesting area on Gull Island, we found the culprit; a Snowy Owl! It was being dive bombed by Great Black-backed Gulls! That must have been what I was seeing from home.

The Snowy Owl - Gull Island - May 7, 2019 - Ted D'Eon photo

Later on that day, the Snowy Owl was chased away from Gull Island towards Wedgeport by a mob of GBBG.

The crew today: Nick Knutson, Natalie Thimot, and Matthew Deagle.

Natalie, Matthew, and Nick - Gull Island - May 7, 2019 - Ted D'Eon photo

More was done work the ROST shelters; mainly adding finer gravel inside as a better substrate to nest on.

Nick and Matthew - Gull Island - May 7, 2019 - Ted D'Eon photo

Matthew, Nick, and Natalie on the "south" beach - Gull Island - May 7, 2019 - Ted D'Eon photo

As a deterrent to gulls roosting on the plywood blinds, Nick attached chicken wire to the top of the middle blind. Minutes later, a GBBG was sitting on the chicken wire, as if laughing at us.

Nick, attaching the chicken wire - Gull Island - May 7, 2019 - Ted D'Eon photo

The Gull on the wire - Gull Island - May 7, 2019 - Ted D'Eon photo

I attached monofilament netting to the top of my blind to see if that would work as a deterrent. While we were on the island, we didn't see ant gulls using it as a perch, but after I got home, I think I saw a gull on there.

The monofilament netting - Gull Island - May 7, 2019 - Ted D'Eon photo

The monofilament netting on the roof of the blind - Gull Island - May 7, 2019 - Ted D'Eon photo

At least 2 COEI nests have been depredated; neither was in a man-made shelter.

The crew documenting a COEI nest - Gull Island - May 7, 2019 - Ted D'Eon photo

A depredated Common Eider nest - Gull Island - May 7, 2019 - Ted D'Eon photo

Now, a total of 39 GBBG nests have been destroyed under permit (leaving 21 GBBG nests containing 1 or 2 eggs untouched, with still more to come)!

May 7, 2019 - A local lobster fisherman (Graham D'Eon) reported 30 "terns" above The Brothers this morning.

May 8, 2019 - I scoped The Brothers (from the end of Pond Rd,) this morning but saw no tern activity there. I did see 3 COTE in Pubnico Harbour, by just driving by.

May 13, 2019 - Gull Island with Nick Knutson, Natalie Thimot, and Matthew Deagle.

I "planted" a Seabird Nesting Island sign at the north end of the island (near to where we land), while Nick, Natalie, and Matthew began the GBBG and COEI nest survey.

A flock of 18 terns flew over but did not stay. After that we saw a few small groups of 2 or 3.

The Seabird Nesting Island sign - Gull Island - May 13, 2019 - Ted D'Eon photo

Nick measuring GBBG eggs - Gull Island - May 13, 2019 - Ted D'Eon photo

Nick and Natalie collecting data - Gull Island - May 13, 2019 - Ted D'Eon photo

Photo above: The gizmo Nick has on his head is a GPS antenna for an exact location of the nests. These are all charted for later analysis.

A COEI egg laid in a GBBG nest - Gull Island - May 13, 2019 - Ted D'Eon photo

Photo above: I have seen this before on The Brothers; I have also seen gull eggs laid in COEI nests. Ted

Two beautiful COEI nests - Gull Island - May 13, 2019 - Ted D'Eon photo

We found almost as many (or more) depredated COEI nests as those which were still intact!

Depredated COEI nest - Gull Island - May 13, 2019 - Ted D'Eon photo

Still no COEI nests in the man-made shelters.

The netting I placed on the top of my plywood blind as a deterrent to birds roosting there is not working.

My Plywood blind - Gull Island - May 13, 2019 - Ted D'Eon photo

GBBG - a little too comfortable on the netting - Gull Island - May 13, 2019 - Ted D'Eon photo

The crew - Matthew, Natalie, and Nick - Gull Island - May 13, 2019 - Ted D'Eon photo

May 15, 2019 - Scoping Gull Island between bouts of rain and fog, I believe the plywood blind farther to the south may be down. Yesterday afternoon, we had a lot of wind from the northeast. It may have done some damage.

May 16, 2019 - Scoping Gull Island again from my house this morning at 7:00am. Definitely a bunch of terns flying around the tern nesting area! Nice to see!

May 19, 2019 - From Shawn Craik dated, May 20. 2019:

Natalie, Matthew, Nick, and I made a trip to Gull Island yesterday (May 19) with the taxi service of Ben Morton. We spent about four hours on the island undertaking observations and infrastructure maintenance. Here is a summary of highlights/observations:

- on arrival to the island, we counted at least 200 terns flying around the North and South colony sites (including at least 2 ROST)

- courtship feeding observed for COTE/ARTE

- a number of what seemed to be tern nest-bowl scrapes were observed in the North colony site

- about 80 GBBG and 12 HERG adults observed on the island upon our arrival (similar to counts during the last visit)

- 12 new gull nests found (now up to a total of 100 gull nests for the year), so perhaps we have passed peak first nest initiation for GBBG

- contents of all gull nests containing 2 or 3 eggs or that were otherwise near the tern colony site were destroyed (under CWS permit)

- significant gull predation observed at eider nests, some of which is the result of our presence (gulls take eggs after we flush eiders from their nest)

- the southern blind had fallen over, and likely due to a strong north wind; we repositioned the blind and added guy-wires

- the two sound systems and weather station were operating

Thanks Shawn; great work, all of you!

May 20, 2019 - Alix d'Entremont reported seeing about 130 terns at North Brother this morning.

May 25, 2019 - Gull Island with Shawn Craik, Natalie Thimot, and Matthew Deagle.

The number of terns was lower than on the last visit; I think one ROST was seen or heard. More details to follow when I receive it.

I was very busy getting bird spikes installed to the roofs of the plywood blinds; I only got one blind done. It took longer than anticipated.

See Shawn Craik's summary below:

Ted, Natalie, Matthew and I spent about two hours on Gull Island yesterday (25 May) morning. The weather was perfect for a sail to the island.

Some highlights:

- about 50 GBBG and 12 HERG around the island upon arrival (this is a significant decrease in GBBG activity compared to the last visit)

- a group of about 75 terns, including at least one ROST near the south end of the island upon our arrival

- 30 minutes of observation and a quick jaunt through the colony indicated that tern egg-laying has not begun, however, much courtship behaviour observed for both ARTE and COTE, and 3-4 nest scrapes observed in grassy habitat in front of southern blind (likely COTE); so nesting is a little slower in getting started than last year when 7 tern nests were counted on 22 May

- Ted was successful in adding spikes to the roof of 'his' blind (we need to name the 3 blinds!)

- we walked through the gull/eider colony

- - 15 new gull nests found

- - eggs removed from advanced gull clutches

- - 12 or 13 gull nests active as of our departure

- - a few new eider nests were found; 26 of 39 nests have been depredated or flooded

- sound systems and weather station working just fine

Shawn

Bird spikes on one of the blinds - Gull Island - May 25, 2019 - Ted D'Eon photo

Natalie, Matthew, and Shawn - Gull Island - May 25, 2019 - Ted D'Eon photo

May 28, 2019 - Gull Island with Julie McKnight and Nick Knutson.

The following from Julie McKnight:

28-May-2019:

We observed 45 DCCO loafing on the N tip as we approached and 7+ Brant on the island plus shorebirds (Ruddy Turnstones, Yellowlegs)

We counted 44 GBBG from the storage spot and 4 HERG. One HERG looked nesty so keep an eye out for small eggs/ incubating HERG.

A total of 10 new GBBG nests were found and 5 nests with eggs left from the last visit were relocated. We removed the contents of all 15 nests.

We counted 16 mixed terns leave the ground on approach to the North Colony.

The sound systems were working correctly and the weather data looks good. I'll send that along later.

Ted completed placing spikes on the blinds. I dare a gull to find a square inch without a spike!

Bird spikes on the top of the blinds - Gull Island - May 28, 2019 - Ted D'Eon photo

Depredated COEI nest - Gull Island - May 28, 2019 - Ted D'Eon photo

Nick and Julie - Gull Island - May 28, 2019 - Ted D'Eon photo

May 28, 2019 - Today, on The Brothers, Alix d'Entremont had a much better rapport with terns than we had on Gull Island.

Alix writes:

9 ROST on North Brother (7 with field readable bands)

About 60 or so terns on North Brother at 11:30 am today (May 28). Many COTE arriving to the island (from north and south) with food in the bill. Here are the band resights:

White on red
B65
L53
B70
L95
L36
L57

Black on yellow
TR3

One ROST without bands and one with two metal bands. I've attached the photos so that you can check that I've read the band codes correctly. Where does the band with black letters on a yellow background come from?

Alix Arthur d'Entremont

Cropped photo of the N Brother ROST with the T83 band - May 28, 2019 - Alix d'Entremont photo

Thanks, Alix.

Note about the "TR3" band. Dr. Jeffrey Spendelow wrote:

The yellow w/ black font "alpha-alpha-numeric" series PFRs haven't been distributed for use (and TR3 hasn't even been made) yet, but we will start using them this summer.

The correct code for this PFR band is T83. This ROST was banded as a chick 6-24-16 at Eastern Egg Rock, Maine, and I saw it last year at South Monomoy Island, MA on 7 Sep.

Thank you, Jeff.

June 2, 2019 - A note from Alix d'Entremont.

60 or so terns at North Brother today. Saw one ROST and a few ARTE, but most were certainly COTE.

June 7, 2019 - North Brother and Gull Island with Nick Knutson, Natalie Thimot and Matthew Deagle.

A vibrant tern colony on North Brother this morning!

- between 300 and 350 terns on the island, including about 20 ROST.

- at least 200 tern nests, including 7 confirmed ROST nests; there could very well be as many as 15 or more ROST nests in total.

Nest count on North Brother - June 7, 2019 - Ted D'Eon photo

Nest count on North Brother - June 7, 2019 - Ted D'Eon photo

Roseate Tern nest on North Brother - June 7, 2019 - Ted D'Eon photo

Roseate Tern nest R007 on North Brother - June 7, 2019 - Ted D'Eon photo

- we did not see any gull nests on N Brother; there were a number of COEI nests found (I don't have the count, but perhaps 8 to 10.

- the colony looked very healthy.

Between Matthew and me, we managed to photograph 18 field readable leg bands: 1V51 (banded as a chick on NB in 2002), 411V (banded as a chick on Bird Island, Buzzards Bay, MA in 2009), 805N (banded as a chick on NB in 2009), B00 (nesting under a board). B25, B33, B65, B70, B75, B76, B89, C59 (banded on Country Island, Nova Scotia), L08, L12, L13, L16, L40, and L93 (on nest R001).

See a few photos below:

ROST B00, North Brother - June 7, 2019 - Ted D'Eon photo

ROST L93, North Brother - June 7, 2019 - Ted D'Eon photo

ROST C59, North Brother - June 7, 2019 - Ted D'Eon photo

17 year old ROST 1V51, North Brother - June 7, 2019 - Ted D'Eon photo

ROST 1V51, North Brother - June 7, 2019 - Ted D'Eon photo

ROST 411V, North Brother - June 7, 2019 - Ted D'Eon photo

ROST L16, North Brother - June 7, 2019 - Ted D'Eon photo

ROST L16, North Brother - June 7, 2019 - Ted D'Eon photo

ROST B75, North Brother - June 7, 2019 - Ted D'Eon photo

Grim on Gull Island this morning.

- about 20 terns there upon our arrival.

- only 2 tern nests that I saw; there may have been a few more.

- possibly more ARTE than COTE; no ROST observed on Gull Island today.

- still a lot of gull presence on the island (mostly GBBG).

- more gull nests destroyed

- COEI nest number now 48; much predation by GBBG. Depredation of COEI nests by the gulls partly due to our presence on the island.

A couple of observations from my plywood blind on Gull Island.

Courtship between what I thought were two ARTE. Now I'm not sure if the one arriving with the fish was a true ARTE or an ARTE/COTE hybrid; the wings look ARTE but the bill look somewhat COTE, with the dark tip of the upper mandible. the accompanying ARTE accepted the fish.

See photos below:

Arctic? Terns on Gull Island - June 7, 2019 - Ted D'Eon photo

Arctic? Tern on Gull Island - June 7, 2019 - Ted D'Eon photo

Arctic? Terns on Gull Island - June 7, 2019 - Ted D'Eon photo

Arctic? Terns on Gull Island - June 7, 2019 - Ted D'Eon photo

Arctic? Terns on Gull Island - June 7, 2019 - Ted D'Eon photo

Also from my blind, I photographed an ARTE with two metal bands. The field readable is somewhat fuzzy, but could be something like CX50 or CXS0. See below.

Banded Arctic Tern on Gull Island - June 7, 2019 - Ted D'Eon photo

Banded Arctic Tern on Gull Island - June 7, 2019 - Ted D'Eon photo

A note from Jeffrey Spendelow, June 14, 2019:

I just saw the picture of the ARTE with a MFR band on Ted's blog. The MFRs used on ARTEs have two letters on the top row and two numbers on the bottom row, so I think CX50 is correct.

A note from Paula Shannon to Jeffrey, Julie, and me, June 14, 2019:

CX50 was used on an ARTE chick on Machias Seal Island, NB in 2003. I took a look at the picture too, and wondered if it could be CX30, which was trapped and banded as an adult the same year (which was two years before the colony collapsed). Either way, neither bird has been seen again since its banding.

Paula Shannon (I think) works for the National Audubon Society's Seabird Restoration Program.

The crew: Nick, Matthew, and Natalie - Gull Island - June 7, 2019 - Ted D'Eon photo

June 8, 2019 - Seaweed harvester, David Surette, reported motoring by Île Ferrée in Pubnico Harbour. He did not land on the island, but said there were a lot of terns there and that they must be nesting.

Île Ferrée, Pubnico Harbour - Ted D'Eon photo

June 10, 2019 - North Brother - Shawn Craik writes:

Natalie, Matthew and I steamed to North Brother Island yesterday to check on the tern/eider colony. The weather was splendid!

Here are some highlights of our observations :

- The goals of the trip were to photograph banded ROST, to confirm/mark all ROST and ARTE nests, and to mark a sample of COTE nests for reproductive monitoring.

- At least 250 terns flushed upon our arrival to the island.

- Overall, the colony seems healthy – birds vigourously defended nesting territories as we walked through the colony.

- Natalie and Matthew brought the number of confirmed ROST nests to 31 (R1 to R31 on sticks). They both feel that a large number of these nests were likely initiated after the last visit on Friday. There may be at least 5 or 10 more ROST nests on the island. At least two subcolonies are forming.

- We confirmed and marked 31 ARTE nests (A1 to A31). All but one nest were located on the N-NE ridge. There are likely a few more ARTE nests to confirm along that ridge, but we suspect that we marked the majority of nests, all of which had either two or three eggs.

- 22 COTE nests were randomly chosen throughout the colony and marked (C1 to C22). Ideally, we would mark another 8 to 10 nests on Thursday to bring the number to at least 30 (to gain statistical power).

- The bright, overhead sun made it difficult for Matthew to take great photos at first, but he adjusted the camera's exposure and was able to add some observations to the band resighting database.

- We estimate that at least 15-17 active COEI nests are on the island. At least one nest had its eggs spilled out.

- No gull nests encountered.

- Very few empty tern nest bowls - this is a sign that there has been little egg predation.

Matthew, Natalie, and Shawn

June 13, 2019 - Gull Island and North Brother - Natalie Thimot writes:

Ted, Julie, Matthew and I went to Gull Island and North Brother Island today. Here's what we were up to:

Gull Island:

- We saw 5 terns flying over Gull and found no new tern nests.

- There were no eggs in the two nests (1 COTE and 1 ARTE) that we had previously found on the western side of the island.

- There were still ~45 gulls on the island, and we destroyed 8 nests.

- At least two eider nests hatched, hooray! I found one nest with 1 membrane, and one nest with 4 membranes. We're up to 52 eider nests now.

Natalie holding up egg membrane from COEI nest - Gull Island - June 13, 2019 - Ted D'Eon photo

North Brother Island:

- Matthew and I looked for new ROST and ARTE nests and we confirmed most of our previous 31 ROST nests.

- Ted and Julie took photos of more ROST bands. Looking forward to see if we get any new ones!

- We found another 12 ROST nests, which brings our total up to 43!!

- Matthew found a few new ARTE nests, so I believe we're following 35.

- We're also following 30 randomly selected COTE nests.

- Julie and Ted brought the weather station over from Gull and installed it on North Brother.

Julie, setting up the weather station on North Brother - June 13, 2019 - Ted D'Eon photo

- We saw one GBBG being chased away by a couple terns next to the island, but so far there's no evidence of predation on the island.

Natalie

Thank you, Natalie.

Natalie Thimot - North Brother - June 13, 2019 - Ted D'Eon photo

Julie McKnight and I photographed 19 ROST field readable leg bands - B00, B12, B65, B89, C16, L00, L08, L12, L16, L35, L47 (nesting in R24), L57, L76, L81, L87, L93, L99, T83 (nest R27 ?), and Y12.

B12, L00, L76, L81, L87, and L99 were new new bands for this season.

A few photos:

ROST T83 - North Brother - June 13, 2019 - Ted D'Eon photo

ROST L93 - North Brother - June 13, 2019 - Ted D'Eon photo

ROST B65 (looks almost like a penguin!) - North Brother - June 13, 2019 - Ted D'Eon photo

The crew: Julie, Matthew, and Natalie - North Brother - June 13, 2019 - Ted D'Eon photo

June 18, 2019 - North Brother.

Crew today: Julie McKnight, Pamela Mills, Natalie Thimot, and Matthew Deagle.

Pamela, Matthew, Natalie, and Julie - Abbott's Harbour - June 18, 2019 - Ted D'Eon photo

Conducting the census - North Brother - June 18, 2019 - Ted D'Eon photo

Julie McKnight recaps our visit to the island where we conducted the official nest count.

Tern Census final result: 454 nests including 47 ROST

Terns

454 nests total:

1 egg: 48

2 eggs: 255

3 eggs: 150

4 eggs: 1

Clutch size = 2.23 eggs/nests

10 eggs were found “out of the nest”

1 was predated (avian). There was a Herring Gull hanging out on the rocks at the Southern tip and there are Herring Gulls and a Great Black-backed Gull on South Brother. Those Herring Gulls may be nesting. Worth a check?

24 chicks hatched (5.3% hatch)

47 ROST nests marked to date. The tern density at the site is incredible. At one point when I was watching a new ROST nest discovered yesterday, I saw two incubating ROSTs turn their heads and their bills almost touched.

Eiders:

10 nests discovered, only 2 active:

3 – warm

7 - warm

3 eggs – cold

7 eggs – cold

3 – cold

3 – cold

4 – cold

2 - cold

5 - wet/ out of the nest/cold

4 - cold

Julie and I took some time to photograph leg bands. We got B25, B33, B65, L00, L05, L35, L45, L47, L76, L93, T83, Y12, and 1V51.

L05 and L45 are new for this season.

June 19, 2019 - North Brother.

Shawn Craik wrote:

Matthew, Natalie, and I spent a little over an hour on NBI yesterday. The goal was to visit marked nests for the three tern species and to obtain GPS coordinates at nests.

Hatching is well underway for the three species (4 ROST nests and about 25-30% of followed ARTE and COTE nests with chicks). There is little evidence of egg predation, and the few nest bowls without eggs are most likely nests with hatched young.

A new ROST nest was discovered, and there may be at least one other nest. So there is a good chance that at least 50 pairs of ROST are on NBI this year!

June 23, 2019 - Alix d'Entremont landed on Île Ferrée, Pubnico Harbour, and counted 170 tern nests!; some eggs had hatched. The island is essentially a round rock with a flat top, about 30 metres in diameter.

All the terns were COTE.

June 25, 2019 - North Brother and Gull Island.

Crew: Julie McKnight, Natalie Thimot, Nick Knutson, Matthew Deagle, Aldric d'Entremont, and me.

North Brother:

Julie, Natalie, Matthew, and Nick surveyed the marked tern nests for egg and chick occupancy and banded tern chicks which were old enough to carry a leg band. They also documented the type of fish the terns were bringing in, and the direction they were coming from (I don't have all the details).

Doing a tern nest survey - North Brother - June 25, 2019 - Ted D'Eon photo

One gull nest was found at the south end of the island and was destroyed. The eggs were cold.

Aldric and I reinstalled the weather station. It had been removed the previous week due to a communication malfunction with Julie's laptop. It proved to only be a minor glitch; nothing serious.

After the weather station, I spent some time in a portable blind to see if I could get a few more leg bands. I managed to get B12, B65, B70, L00, L12, L16, L32, L40, L76, L93, L94, L99, T83, Y15 and 1V51. Matthew also got some of these plus B25 and L45.

Red L94 and yellow Y15 were new for this season.

Julie McKnight writes:

L94 is the bird originally banded in Brazil - I switched out its band and added L94 in 2017 when we put a tracker on it (which we didn’t get back). Good to see it.

As for Y15, Paula Shannon writes that this "bird was banded on Eastern Egg Rock as a chick in 2017".

Matthew also identified the parents of two nests: nest R29 had two unbanded terns incubating its eggs, and nest R30 had L00 and L99.

Matthew and I also photographed a few terns of all 3 species carrying fish; they all seemed to be carrying White Hake.

Roseate Tern carrying White Hake (I think) - North Brother - June 25, 2019 - Ted D'Eon photo

A beautifully streamlined Roseate Tern - North Brother - June 25, 2019 - Ted D'Eon photo

The same Roseate Tern as above - North Brother - June 25, 2019 - Ted D'Eon photo

A Roseate Tern vocalizing at a Common Tern intruder - North Brother - June 25, 2019 - Ted D'Eon photo

Gull Island:

Definitely a decrease in gull presence on the island, but still 25 or so, mostly GBBG.

8 terns were seen and one tern nest (probably ARTE) was found. Both sound systems were working perfectly.

One gull nest was found and destroyed.

Several new COEI nests with warm eggs were also found. Perhaps these will have a chance to produce ducklings now that the gull population is down.

From the south end of the island, looking to the northwest - Gull Island - June 25, 2019 - Ted D'Eon photo

Matthew, Julie, Nick, Aldric, and Natalie - Gull Island - June 25, 2019 - Ted D'Eon photo

June 26, 2019 - Alix d'Entremont writes:

Bertin d'Eon and I did the Coffin Island, Queens County, nest count yesterday (June 25).

There were no terns on Toby Island, but those birds seemed to have moved to Coffin.

We counted 455 nests on Coffin and had one ROST (no breeding evidence).

I estimated the ratio of Common vs. Arctic at 2:1.

June 28, 2019 - Whitehead Island.

This morning, I took Shawn Craik and Natalie Thimot to Whitehead Island (about 4 km west of Abbott's Harbour).

They were there to download to computer, data collected by an antenna equipped GPS base station established on the island a month earlier. The month earlier, 7 or 8 nesting Herring Gulls were equipped with GPS units which would track their travels over the next several months.

Whenever, these gulls returned within a km or two from the base unit, their wanderings would automatically be recorded by the base unit.

Once this data is collected and processed, a map of the gulls' travels can be produced.

Natalie and Shawn - Whitehead Island - June 28, 2019 - Ted D'Eon photo

Natalie and Shawn - Whitehead Island - June 28, 2019 - Ted D'Eon photo

June 28, 2019 - Shawn Craik and Natalie Thimot then went to North Brother.

Shawn writes:

Natalie and I sailed to NBI yesterday to monitor nests, conduct feeding watches (lots of hake and herring), and band ROST young (6).

Two new ROST nests were marked.

Natalie Thimot writes (June 29, 2019):

(We're) Up to 52 ROST nests! We ended up marking 3 new nests yesterday.

This is great news! I thought getting 50 ROST nests this year on North Brother would be a stretch. This is fantastic!

July 3, 2019 - Alix d'Entremont writes:

I've been seeing a number of ROST feeding along the coast of Pubnico Harbour from Muff Rd to Dennis Point Wharf at high tide for more than a week now.

There were at least 5 there a few days ago. I've seen one ROST at Abbotts Harbour feeding north of the wharf.

I went to Bon Portage Island last evening (tide less than half, going up) and had one ROST on a buoy here (https://goo.gl/maps/jbpJGnZtJbZiLKbo6). There were only two Common Terns around John's Island, that one ROST on a buoy and two more Commons near Soloman's Island.

There is a new small tern colony of about 30 or so nests at Bon Portage Island. I don't have my field book here, so don't have the nest number right now. Most are COTE, but there were a few ARTE nests as well.

Alix Arthur d'Entremont

July 8, 2019 - North Brother with Natalie Thimot and Matthew Deagle to do feeding watches and to check the status of a number of assigned tern nests for their projects.

Some of the boats at Abbott's Harbour - July 8, 2019 - Ted D'Eon photo

Matthew and Natalie in their blinds - North Brother - July 8, 2019 - Ted D'Eon photo

Many of the tern eggs have hatched but some are still being incubated.

I would say the principal fish being brought in by the terns is the Sandlance. Often, it seems to be the ROST as the principal tern bringing in Sandlance, but this year, COTE were everywhere with Sandlance in their bills!

Common Tern with Sandlance - North Brother - July 8, 2019 - Ted D'Eon photo

COTE were also bringing in White Hake in moderate amounts. I did not actually see any terns bringing in Herring although I am sure some quick transfers of unidentified fish may have been Herring.

Common Tern with White Hake - North Brother - July 8, 2019 - Ted D'Eon photo

Some other identified fish species brought in by COTE were Skulpin, Butterfish, and, I think, Mummichog.

Common Tern with Skulpin - North Brother - July 8, 2019 - Ted D'Eon photo

The same Tern with Skulpin as above - North Brother - July 8, 2019 - Ted D'Eon photo

It's chick swallowed the Skulpin.

A poor photo of a COTE with Butterfish - North Brother - July 8, 2019 - Ted D'Eon photo

A poor photo of a COTE chick swallowing a Sandlance, tail first - North Brother - July 8, 2019 - Ted D'Eon photo

A Common Tern on nest - North Brother - July 8, 2019 - Ted D'Eon photo

Common Tern adult and chick - North Brother - July 8, 2019 - Ted D'Eon photo

Common Tern - North Brother - July 8, 2019 - Ted D'Eon photo

Since I had my portable blind in an area with very few ROST, I was only able to get 3 leg bands - C59, L57, and L93. All were previously seen birds,

Roseate Tern C59 with Sandlance - North Brother - July 8, 2019 - Ted D'Eon photo

Natalie and Matthew - North Brother - July 8, 2019 - Ted D'Eon photo

July 10, 2019 - Ronnie d'Entremont writes:

The best place in Canada to see Roseate Terns is in West Pubnico, as we have about 100 adults on nearby North Brother Island.

This evening I was treated to one feeding at point blank range just to the south of Dennis Point. This is the closest I have ever been to one feeding. July 10th (2019).

Roseate Tern - Dennis Point Wharf, Lower West Pubnico, NS - July 10, 2019 - Ronnie d'Entremont photo

Ronnie also photographed ROST L76 at Dennis Point wharf.

Great photo and photo opportunity!

Thanks, Ronnie.

July 14, 2019 - At 6pm, Ronnie d'Entremont writes:

At least 6 Roseates feeding at wharf #4. Dennis Point!

Ted C. D'Eon