Field Notes: Banding Royal Terns in Brunswick, GA

By Sarah Manning, Coastal Conservation Coordinator

0430: An early wakeup - anything for the birds! 

0530: After a quick breakfast, shower, coffee (necessity), and packing snacks and hydration, it’s time to head out to the field. The goal today: band as many Royal Tern chicks as humanly possible!

0615: Arrive in Brunswick at the Sidney Lanier boat ramp. In the distance, the sky is bright with lightning moving offshore.

The Sidney Lanier Bridge in Brunswick, GA spans the Brunswick River and carries four lanes of U.S. Hwy 17 along the Georgia coast. Photo by Sarah Manning.

0630: Field briefing by Georgia Department of Natural Resources Biologist, Tim Keyes. We are waiting for the weather to clear. We load three boats full of gear: tables, chairs, tents, fencing, coolers, and banding equipment. 

0645: We have boarded the boats and are on our way to Bird Island - a dredge spoil island in the middle of the Brunswick Harbor, meticulously crafted for the birds by the Georgia DNR in 2008. The island has a unique quality - it’s isolated. The typical threats to ground-nesting birds are lessened by this isolation. Mammalian predators have a hard time crossing the river, and the island is closed to recreational use (for the birds’ safety). The island was built high enough to provide reprieve from storms and tidal overwash, creating an oasis of open, sandy habitat perfect for nesting seabirds. It has now grown to be the largest seabird colony in Georgia - and one of the most successful, too. American Oystercatchers, Black Skimmers, Brown Pelicans, Gull-billed Terns, Royal Terns, and Sandwich Terns nest on Bird Island.

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0700: We have arrived. The raucous sound is almost overwhelming as the adults take flight. We’ve landed on the southwest corner of the island to avoid disturbing any active nesting taking place. 
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0715: Gear is being unloaded. Tents are assembled, tables, chairs, and banding gear distributed. Five teams complete with an experienced bander and their assistants are assembled to complete the daunting task of the day: band just over 660 Royal Tern chicks. There is no shortage of chicks, rather, a shortage of time! Banding is to be completed before the temperature rises enough to stress the young birds. Time is of the essence today, and the safety of the birds is the highest priority.

0745: Royal Terns hatch from one-egg clutches as semi-precocial young (covered in down and able to move from the nest site). From then on, Royal Terns (and other crested terns) form crèches, or gathering of young birds aged two days and up until fledging. The parents return to their chick during the day to provide it with food, able to recognize them in groups of thousands of chicks. A team breaks off to corral the chicks. It is a seemingly simple task, as the chicks cannot yet fly to escape, instead, they move as a large unit. Patience is a virtue: moving too quickly could cause smaller chicks to be overwhelmed by the crowd.

A crèche of Royal Tern chicks. Photo by Sarah Manning.

0800: The first small group of chicks is being separated from the larger whole. Soft-sided dog crates are used to transport the chicks to the teams of banders. Each bird that is large enough will be outfitted with two bands: On their left leg, a metal band, also known as a federal band, complete with a 9-digit code that is near impossible to read without recapturing the bird. On the right leg, a colored, field-readable band (a hard plastic band with a three-digit alphanumeric code) is placed. Field-readable bands are able to be read and reported by anyone who resights the bird - you just need binoculars, a spotting scope, or a camera with zoom, without the need of capturing the bird again. This is a non-invasive way to track the birds’ whereabouts, timing of migration, dispersal to wintering grounds, and much more. 

Banding a Royal Tern chick. Photo by Ellie Kania, DNR.

1000: We continue to band, passing the halfway point! The clouds have dissipated and the temperature is starting to rise. We band faster, as if we are an assembly line in a factory. The work comes easier now, with experience. Each group must band an average of 148 chicks if we are to complete our goal.

1130: Success! All color bands have been placed and chicks have reunited with their parents in the crèche, sporting new jewelry. Gear is broken down and packed back onto the boats. All involved are speckled with bodily fluids: sweat, bird poop, and regurgitated juices are just part of the uniform today - all in a day’s work for bird biologists!

Sarah with one of the banded chicks.

Get Involved: Report Bands

See a Royal or Sandwich Tern with a field-readable band? Report it to reportband.gov.
The color of the field-readable band differs based on who banded the bird: Red for Georgia DNR, White for Virginia Tech, and Black for North Carolina. Many Royal Terns will not have field-readable bands but will have a metal, federal band. You can report those if you can read them, too! You’ll receive a certificate for reporting which details where and when the bird was banded. 

Other species can be reported through ReportBand.Gov as well - see our previous article about shorebirds here.

Royal Terns with bands

An image of a resighted Royal Tern, "Red", sporting a red band on the right leg.