Michigan’s Black Terns Need Your Help

Black Terns are in decline, and we need your help!

Audubon Great Lakes is looking for volunteers to participate in breeding Black Tern Surveys across the Lower Peninsula. This monitoring effort requires just two site visits between June 1 and July 31, and one rapid habitat assessment. A virtual volunteer training session will be provided. Sign up to volunteer today!

These graceful, Robin-sized colonial waterbirds nest in the coastal and inland marshes of Michigan, where they build nests on floating mats or rafts of crushed bulrush and cattail, and feed on insects and small fish. In their choice of surroundings, Black Terns lead double lives: in North America in the summer, they are typical birds of freshwater marshes, but in winter, they become seabirds along tropical coasts.

Unfortunately, these charismatic marsh birds have seen population declines globally since the 1960s, and up to 71 percent of our Black Tern population has been lost here in Michigan. The Black Tern is a Michigan Species of Special Concern, State Wildlife Action Plan focal species, and is now state-listed in all other Great Lakes states. 

The reason for this population loss is poorly understood, but Audubon Great Lakes and several partners are working towards understanding the underlying cause of the decline and developing conservation strategies that can help bring these birds back.

You can help inform our future conservation efforts! Help us understand Black Term demographics, including the number of breeding pairs, newly hatched young, and returning adults, as well as the location of active colonies. This dataset will help identify priority conservation areas for Black Terns across the state and inform conservation action plans that will guide wetlands management at key sites. 

Can’t volunteer, but still want to help Black Terns? Record your Black Tern observations to eBird and keep your eyes peeled for color-banded individuals! Submit any color-band sightings to the Bird Banding Lab.

ABOUT MI BIRDS
MI Birds is a public outreach and education program created by Audubon Great Lakes and Michigan Department of Natural Resources, which aims to increase all Michiganders' engagement in the understanding, care, and stewardship of public lands that are important for birds and local communities.