Rome Pond Black Tern Nesting Project Spring

Project: Black Tern Nesting Platforms 2020
County: Jefferson

By Mike Alaimo, Lead Adopt A Wildlife Area Volunteer

Below is the substance of a Black Tern nesting report from Mike to the DNR at Rome Pond.  Mike is WWA’s Adopt A Wildlife Area (AWA) program coordinator, and simultaneously has been undertaking a project to restore nesting habitat at Rome Pond for several years.  He continues to experiment with various combinations of floating platforms with sod in various locations as a means to provide vegetated platforms for nest success.  The Black Tern is listed as an endangered species in Wisconsin. All photos courtesy Mike Alaimo

Turkey season got the best of me for time, along with the weather, to go out to make a check on the platforms.  I did so today, which is about three weeks from original deployment, when there were no birds in sight.  Today, at least twenty terns were present.  The water level is high.  The open water colony had over a dozen birds, but none were staking claim.  Mud bars (where black tern will normally nest) are non-existent.

In the area where I deployed floating nests we have three platforms being used.  Two were claimed by pairs.  Another had a single bird repeatedly guard the platform. One platform had two eggs: one at the water line and another about midway.  The lone bird that guarded the platform did not seem to get near the eggs.

With some of the northerly blows we have had, I am not sure if the sod strips missing were caused by wave action, a boat wake, turtles trying to climb on, ducks or even geese.  What it does tell me is that a solid piece of sod might be the way to go, but the upright sod did seem to catch at least one egg.

There is one platform that is not being used, and does not show signs of bird droppings like it is being claimed.  We will have to watch this further to see if another pair moves in.

I did notice that, although they tended to nest closer last year, a pair was fighting with the single bird that had the eggs.  Whenever one would take off from the other platform, the single would get up and chase them around. It might be that they are too close, which could be another reason for the other platform being unclaimed.  It is a wait and see.

Another behavioral change I observed was less anxiety with our presence. They seemed to ignore us more this year and calmed right down.  I am sure this will change once they have clutches or even young in the area.  They were very happy to go right back to their platforms and stand watch.