Five years of habitat improvements at the Coal Oil Point Natural Reserve are bearing feathered fruit—and not only among the Western snowy plovers. Endangered California least terns hatched five chicks between the end of June and the recent July 4th holiday, reports Cristina Sandoval, reserve director.

“These are the first least tern nests to have had hatchings in the reserve in at least four decades,” she says.

Tern parents have been photographed feeding small fish to their hatchlings. They catch the fish in the adjacent ocean or, mostly, the nearby Devereux Slough.

Over the last five years the fishing must have been good since other tern families, which hatched chicks elsewhere, have been sighted on the roped-off beach near the slough teaching their young to fish. This adds to the local avian diversity and to the satisfaction of volunteer workers who provide the muscle for clearing nonnative plants and restoring a habitat that invites breeding and nesting of rare or endangered birds.

As a result of the improvement of habitat and reduced disturbance by humans and dogs, says Sandoval, the threatened Western snowy plovers now have a stable population of around 20 breeding pairs. This productive group fledges approximately 40 chicks a year. 

The least terns—they are the smallest members of the tern family—cannot yet match the plovers’ fecundity, but they are proving most persistent.

In 2004, according to Sandoval’s records, six least tern nests were built at the reserve, but skunks ravaged four of them and a great horned owl carried off the adults from the other two. In 2005, the terns attempted to nest again; however, they abandoned the area after the 4th of July fireworks at Girsh Park.