Counting down: Interior Least Tern surveys begin in Tulsa

Photo By Brannen Parrish | Interior Least Terns nest in the sandbar islands in the Arkansas River and hatch little chicks like this one. Although the bird was removed from the Endangered Species list in 2020, it is still protected by the Migratory Bird Treaty Act, and the Tulsa District will continue to monitor its populations in the Arkansas and Red Rivers.  

TULSA, OK, UNITED STATES

05.24.2021

Story by Brannen Parrish 

U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Tulsa District

As summer approaches, the Tulsa District, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ annual Interior Least Tern survey in the Arkansas River and Red Rivers will begin soon.

Throughout the summer, Tulsa District surveyors will travel up and the Arkansas River and Red River to count adult and fledglings every three weeks.

The five-year count average for the ILT is 1698 adults and 378 fledglings. The five-year goals for adults and fledglings are 1343 and 336 respectively.

The effort to monitor and protect the ILT is a multidiscipline, interagency effort between the USACE, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the Southwestern Power Administration.

The USFW removed the ILT from the Endangered Species Act’s threatened and endangered list in 2020. As part of the Southwestern Division, USACE’s ILT Conservation Plan, districts will continue counting tern populations ensure they continue to trend positive.

“We want to ensure the birds continue to thrive and are not endanger of being listed again.” said Jason Person, a biologist and the Tulsa District’s ILT Survey Program Manager. “We have committed a lot of time and resources to the bird and just because they are delisted does not mean that we can just stop implementing all of the things that we have been doing for the better part of 20 years in order to help them survive.”

The ILT, which is protected under the Migratory Bird Treaty Act, nests on sandbars and sparsely vegetated areas typically within riverbeds or near water bodies. The birds begin arriving in the Tulsa District’s area of responsibility in April and generally remain until September.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ commitment to the biological opinion regarding the bird’s survival remains active until the post delisting monitoring plan is completed by the USFWS.

• Date Taken: 05.24.2021
• Date Posted: 05.24.2021 12:26
• Story ID: 397220
• Location: TULSA, OK, US