VERMONT'S IMPORTANT BIRD AREAS PROGRAM

For the past four years, Audubon Vermont has worked with its eight chapters, NGOs, local birders and other conservation minded volunteers in identifying and nominating Important Bird Areas (IBA) throughout the state. The nomination and designation phase (Phase 1) proved to be a successful collaboration of people and resources that has resulted in 16 IBAs and four IBA Complex's (IBAs focusing on individual species at multiple sites). These IBAs now form the basis of Audubon Vermont's conservation efforts designed to protect birds and the habitats critical to their survival.

Vermont's Important Bird Area Program has begun Phase II which focuses on completing the Vermont IBA Technical Report along with supporting and developing monitoring projects at Vermont's IBAs. By creating a sense of ownership between IBAs and chapters, NGO's, and the birding community, Audubon looks to make the Vermont IBA Program a key component of avian conservation in the state. To this end, Audubon Vermont and the Otter Creek Audubon Society hosted the Vermont IBA Monitoring Workshop in June of 2001. This workshop introduced chapter representatives and the general public to a variety of monitoring techniques that volunteers can use to collect critical information at IBAs.

FEATURED IMPORTANT BIRD AREA
Name: Common Tern Island IBA Complex
State: Vermont
County: Grand Isle County
Nearest Communities: Swanton

Site Description: One of Vermont's most significant IBAs is the Common Tern Island IBA Complex. Consisting of four islands located in the northeastern portion of Lake Champlain, this IBA Complex is home to Vermont's endangered breeding population of Common Terns. Popasquash Island, one of the most important islands in the complex, was one of the first IBAs nominated and identified in the state.

Audubon Vermont coordinates the Vermont Common Tern Recovery Project and oversees and conducts Common Tern monitoring and management efforts on Lake Champlain and the Common Tern Island IBA Complex. One of the successes of the project has been the partnerships that have been created to protect the terns and their nesting islands. Vermont's Nongame and Natural Heritage Program provides financial and logistical support while the local chapter, the Green Mountain Audubon Society, has worked with the Lake Champlain Land Trust to purchase three of the four nesting islands. The fourth island is owned by The Nature Conservancy.

Photo Credit: Common terns by Mark LaBarr.

Ornithological Summary: Over the past two decades the population of Common Terns using the Common Tern Island IBA Complex has been monitored and the islands protected and managed to enhance breeding success. During this time the number of breeding pairs has increased more than 300 percent and reproductive success has risen dramatically.

Conservation Issues: Although Common Tern numbers have steadily increased over the past fifteen years, the status of this species in Vermont is in no way secure. Human disturbance, over-crowding by gulls and cormorants and predation continue to threaten the viability of this population. Long-term management efforts that protect the terns and their nesting islands will need to continue if this population is to reach its recovery goal and be removed from the state endangered and threatened species list. The designation of these islands as IBAs will no doubt contribute to the current and future success of this project.

To Learn More About Audubon Vermont's
Important Bird Areas Program

Contact:
Mark LaBarr
Conservation and Stewardship Director
Audubon Vermont
255 Sherman Hollow Road
Huntington, VT 05462
(802) 434-3068
mlabarr@audubon.org