BEACH AND BAY

STEVE BYLAND

Changing course

Navy denies access for annual community event due to endangered seabird

By AMY STEWARD

An endangered seabird has forced the annual Low Tide Ride & Stride race to modify its course — the first time in 25 years.

The Navy denied the Rotary Club of Coronado’s request for participants to pass along the water’s edge of Navy property because a small seabird nests in the sand. The race route included Coronado Beach, the Navy property and the Silver Strand.

Joyce Sisson of Naval Base Coronado’s Environmental Division informed Rotary that the endangered California least tern population’s decline in numbers was worse than in previous years.

“We have to balance military training and impact to the protected nesting grounds,” she said. Sisson explained that the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service keeps track of the number of people on the beach during nesting season. If the race was allowed to go as planned, it would impact military training and readiness, she said.

Sharing the Navy’s desire to protect the least terns and the

Least terns nest in colonies on sandy beaches. The eggs take about 20 to 25 days to hatch.

U. S. FISH AND WILDLIFE SERVICE Least terns have been on the federal endangered species list since 1970.

environment, the Rotary Club of Coronado adopted a new plan for the June 18 event. Publicity chairperson Kitt Williams said, “We had to change the course to accommodate the birds. This year we are starting and finishing at North Beach, making it a more family-friendly, locals 5K event.”

The least tern nesting season begins in early March and goes through mid-September. Sternula antillarum browni, or California least tern, create shallow nests on open ground. In Coronado, that’s along Delta Beach between Naval Amphibious Base Coronado and Silver Strand Navy Housing on San Diego Bay. On the ocean side, nesting occurs from the base to Silver Strand State Beach. They tend to return to the same nesting grounds year after year.

Beachgoers often disturb nesting areas unknowingly.

Least terns nest in colonies, and both parents are involved. Incubation is between 20 and 25 days. The hatchlings leave the nest within a few days and hide while both parents feed them. The young birds take their first flight when they are about 20 days old and stay with their parents for two to three months. The terns migrate south to winter in tropical waters.

Least terns have bright yellow bills, black head caps with a white V on the forehead, long wings and forked tails. You may see a tern fly low over the water or hear its shrill cries. Terns hover and plunge into the water when fishing and have quick wing beats.

When the least tern was placed on the federal endangered species list in 1970, only 225 nesting tern pairs were recorded in California, according to the Center for Biological Diversity. Now there are 30 least tern nesting sites in California; half are in San Diego County. One is located between runways at San Diego International Airport.

Loss of habitat, human disruption of nesting grounds, invasive plants at nesting sites, and increasing spring heat waves due to climate change — all which endanger the hatchlings — continue to negatively impact least tern populations.

“This year has been particularly rough on the birds,” Sisson said.

The least tern is not the only bird in danger. In North America alone, more than 3 billion birds from hundreds of species have been lost over the past 50 years. ■

Amy Steward is a freelance writer.

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