University of Houston, 4333 University Drive, Houston TX 77204-2000, (713) 743-1050.
© 2013 University of Houston. All rights reserved.
| Title | The Spoonbill, Vol. 43, No. 10, October 1994 |
| Contributor (Local) |
|
| Publisher | Outdoor Nature Club |
| Date | October 1994 |
| Subject.Topical (LCSH) |
|
| Subject.Geographic (TGN) |
|
| Genre (AAT) |
|
| Language | English |
| Type (DCMI) |
|
| Original Item Location | ID 2007-023, Box 12, Folder 15 |
| ArchivesSpace URI | /repositories/2/archival_objects/9879 |
| Original Collection | Outdoor Nature Club Records |
| Digital Collection | Outdoor Nature Club Newsletters |
| Digital Collection URL | http://digital.lib.uh.edu/collection/2007_023 |
| Repository | Special Collections, University of Houston Libraries |
| Repository URL | http://libraries.uh.edu/branches/special-collections/ |
| Use and Reproduction | In Copyright |
| File Name | index.cpd |
| Title | Image 1 |
| Format (IMT) |
|
| File Name | uhlib_2007_023_b012_f015_009_001.jpg |
| Transcript | The Volume 43, No. 10 October 1994 Spoonbill Published by The Ornithology Group, Outdoor Nature Club, Houston Least Terns and Man: Can We Snare the Beacn? BY ROBERT MCFARLANE Least Terns are conspicuous throughout Galveston Bay and along the Gulf beaches. Easily identified by their diminutive size and yellow bills, and unafraid of humans, these birds delight beachwalkers by flying close overhead, often carrying small fish in their bills. Unfortunately, people and Least Terns are competing for scarce beach space, and the birds are losing. Figure 1 charts the estimated number of Least Terns nesting at all sites in Galveston Bay and in Texas (including Galveston Bay) since 1973. Peaking at 2,035 breeding pairs in 1974, the Galveston Bay population crashed to just 62 pairs in 1976, dipped to a low of 49 pairs in 1981, and has fluctuated at less than one- fourth of their former number ever since. This mimics the pattern for Texas overall, which peaked at 4,305 pairs in 1973, steadily declined to 432 pairs by 1976, and since has seldom exceeded 1,000 pairs. On average, 35 percent of all Least Terns in Texas have nested in the Galveston Bay system. With one third of the breeding stock clustered in only one of the seven Texas estuaries, Galveston Bay is important to the Texas population of this species. In Galveston Bay, since 1976, the average number of breeding pairs at each colony has ranged from 16 to 61 (Figure 2) while the number of colony sites has fluctuated widely from 2 to 13 (Figure 3). The situation has changed from many birds nesting at just a few locations to a few birds attempting to nest at many locations. What has happened here? Some answers are obvious. Their nesting habitat has disappeared. Tiki Island is a prime example. It hosted 1,600 pairs of Least Terns and 1,200 pairs of Black Skimmers in 1974 but none since 1980. Terns and skimmers do not nest on slant-roofed stilt-houses. Redfish Island was once a major bird colony for as many as 2,800 pairs of 14 different species (including 130 pairs of Least Terns) but subsidence lowered the island two feet while waves eroded its sinking shoreline. Herons and egrets last nested on Redfish Island in 1983; Least Terns and skimmers hung on until 1991; the remnant of the island is now awash. The Big Reef area at Continued on Page 2 |