Tern for the better: rare Chinese seabird’s numbers rapidly increasing

Greater numbers of a critically endangered bird have been spotted on an island in Zhejiang province .

In observations from May until this month, scientists from Hong Kong and the mainland reported that at least 52 Chinese crested terns,  among the most threatened varieties of seabird worldwide, arrived to breed at Tiedun Dao  in the Jiushan Islands.  They gave birth to at least 25 young terns, according to Simba Chan Sing-yin,  a senior officer at BirdLife International,  who is leading the conservation project.

This is the second consecutive year the scientists have observed the island during breeding season. Enlisting 400 imitation tern models and a sound playback system, the team successfully attracted 41 terns last year and a record-breaking 52 this year.

“The number of Chinese crested terns is increasing and hopefully they can be taken off the list of threatened species,” Chan said.

Distinguished by its white posterior, pale grey mantle and the black tip of its bill, the Chinese crested tern was designated “critically endangered” on the International Union for Conservation of Nature Red List of Threatened Species  in 2012. The seabird’s global population was most recently estimated to be under 100.