Biologists with the Maine Coastal Islands National Wildlife Refuge are trying to figure out where terns feed. While they await data being collected on nanotags (tiny coded transmitters on the backs of terns from Petit Manan Island), they followed a group of feeding terns from Seal Island on July 11. They ended up over six miles north of the nesting colony and just south of Vinalhaven. There, they observed approximately 500 common and Arctic terns plunge feeding on a school of herring.
Do you ever see a large flock of terns plunge feeding? If so, please record the time, date, and location, as we could use the data — citizen science!
To submit a report, click here.
Beautiful day on the water, just south of Vinalhaven
Photos of Nature in Action: Terns Caught Plunge Feeding
Beautiful day on the water, just south of Vinalhaven
