Matilde Alfaro
Sterna-Averaves Project
| Location | Country | Categories | Date |
|---|---|---|---|
| Uruguay | Birds, Central and Latin America | 24 Apr 2005 |
In 1998, a mixed colony of Sterna maxima, S. eurygnatha and S. hirundinacea was found on Isla Verde. This is the first and only record for Uruguay and in a vast range of the Atlantic coast. We will study the breeding biology and regional migrations of its populations to determine the role of the colony in a regional context. We will use the tools of our educational program ALAS-Averaves in order to involve two local communities and we will register their cultural heritage concerning this island.
Working with the local communities will ensure a successful preservation of this Tern colony. The Isla Verde will be visited once a week from August to November, twice in July and once in December 2005. During these visits, we will make observations with binoculars and telescope, from a built hide, to a distance no shorter than 30 m. from the border of the colony. We will register the number of breeding pairs, chicks and juveniles for the three mentioned tern species and their accompanying nesting species, the number of predated eggs for each tern species, its location within the colony and the predator species responsible for it.
We will make three flights, during the breeding season, at 100-300 m over Isla Verde in order to take pictures and calculate the nest density, shape and spatial distribution of the colony. Due to the sensitivity of these birds to the human presence, which can interfere with the fidelity to the nesting site and the reproductive success, we will only work within the colony when the reproductive season is over.We will capture chicks, in order to band them, once they gather in crèches to prevent the parents from abandoning them. In order to determine the distribution and seasonal movements of the terns breeding on Isla Verde, reported recaptures will be used.
Our results will be relevant to complete the information gap and for the conservation of the “Austral Population” of S. maxima, for which survival threats from human activities have been reported. Furthermore, it has a small breeding population size with only five colonies in Argentina, one in Brazil, and one on Isla Verde, Uruguay. Considering the above we believe that the Sterna-Averaves Project is of high conservation priority in Uruguay and within the region.
News & Updates
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3rd June 2005 |
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Contact the Principal of the elementary school of La Coronilla. Buy the wood for the hide’ s construction. Visit Isla Verde to establish the exact place for building the hide and monitoring.
Logistics and activities We stayed at the house of Carlos Romero, fisherman of La Coronilla, who has given us a great assistance with the project, and will be taking us to and from the island on a motor boat during the project. We made the contacts with the school and the saw-mill of La Coronilla. The Principal embraced our proposal with great pleasure and in the next weeks we are going to have a workshop with all the teachers. We purchase the wood for the hide; we bought forty tables and eight posts. We could not visit Isla Verde due to weather conditions, but we observed it from Cerro Verde, with a telescope, and counted 300 Kelp Gulls (Larus dominicanus) on Isla Verde and 350 on Isla Coronilla (next to the other). During the whole stay we observed one Royal Tern (Sterna maxima) in flight and four feeding on the beach (on the mainland). Future activities will involve the setting of the hide on the island and the workshop with the teachers. Picture: Some gulls and terns resting on La Coronilla beach. |
Survey Objectives