Bird rescue operation in Long Beach seeks to save Elegant Terns | Los Angeles Times

[Posted by Chuck Almdale, submitted by Lillian Johnson]

Bird rescue operation in Long Beach seeks to save elegant terns
Los Angeles Times | Faith E. Pinho | 16 July 2021

It’s quite likely that the Elegant Terns who abandoned their nests at Bolsa Chica (reported June 4 and June 8) after a drone crashed in their midst then moved up to the Long Beach Harbor for a try at barge life. International Bird Rescue is now rescuing nestlings fallen into the water from the barges and needs donations to cover their additional expenses including the cost of the 100+ pounds of fish they gobble down every day.

The following is the introduction to today’s story on the Los Angeles Times website.

It’s been a tough year for elegant terns in Southern California.

A drone crash in June forced an estimated 3,000 of the sleek seabirds with their pointed orange bills to abandon their eggs on Bolsa Chica Ecological Reserve in Orange County. Experts say it’s possible that many of the birds set up camp on two commercial barges in nearby Long Beach Harbor.

Now droves of the baby birds are falling into the ocean and drowning.

“They basically landed on the barge a day or so, and it may have been two or three days, after the incident involving the drones when they left Bolsa Chica,” said Tim Daly, spokesman for California Department of Fish and Wildlife. “There’s really no way of proving or knowing, but we think there’s a possibility, because they suddenly appeared.” More…