Preparing for Black Tern Nesting Season 2024

Photo by Evan Deutsch

By March 2024, Detroit Bird Alliance was already getting ready for the Black Tern nesting season, which starts mid-May. This will be the first year since 2013 that we are not conducting chick or adult Black Tern banding. Instead the focus of this year will be to test out our most successful platform design using the platforms and nest cameras. Last year we set out six different types of platforms and had impressive success with the canvas and styrofoam platform designed by David Fuller. 

This year, we are planning to set out ten nest cameras with two canvas and styrofoam platforms in the view of each nest camera. This number of platforms will be able to give us a rough idea of whether these nest platforms can increase the hatching and or fledging success of the Black Terns. Our plan for this year is to set out the nest cameras and nest platforms at the beginning of the breeding season, then leave the birds alone for several weeks, return at the peak of the breeding season for some population counts, again leave the birds alone, and then retrieve the nest cameras and nest platforms after the Black Terns have finished nesting. 

We are very excited to be much more hands-off with the Black Terns this year. Although it means that we don't get to hold the adorable chicks, this also means that the Black Terns can nest with as little interference as possible. The real work will start for us after the breeding season as we review the nest camera footage. This definitely feels like a big job looking through thousands of photos, but it’s extremely fun to get this close-up look at the chick rearing and fledging process. Stay tuned for what we find after the 2024 Black Tern breeding season at SCF!

Black Tern chick being banded by Diane Cheklich