"Shady" Business for the Birds: Surveying Shelters for Least Terns

This article was written by 2025 Coastal Outreach Intern, Ben Ellis.

Prior to this summer, I never gave much thought to how birds find shade on scorching beaches. On bare beaches, even a few degrees can make the difference for chicks between survival and death.

This past summer, working as a Coastal Outreach Intern on the North Shore of Long Island, I had the opportunity to contribute to a study on Least Tern chick’s shelter use. 

Audubon’s coastal staff in New York has been monitoring nesting shorebirds on Long Island for over a decade, including Least Tern colonies along the North Shore at Stehli Beach. The study would assess the use of shelters by Least Tern chicks, and the frequency of use, to aid in protecting them from increased temperatures and predators.

With the information collected, our coastal staff would determine if the presence of shelters in Least Tern colonies helps increase productivity (their ability to successfully raise chicks) at select sites.

Teen volunteers at the Theodore Roosevelt Sanctuary and Audubon Center planned and constructed 22 open bird shelters which were categorized into three shapes.  The three different types of shelters—box shelters, triangular shelters, and extended shelters—were installed in the protected Least Tern colony area at Stehli Beach to provide shelter from the sun for the Least Tern chicks. 

The volunteers and I observed how the chicks used each shelter type to see if they showed a clear preference.  The Audubon center supplied us with bright orange bags that were prepared with supplies needed to survey the colony.  We were given a map of the colony with numbered shelters marked, binoculars, and a surveying sheet to record any observations.

Each day of surveying, we recorded the time that we conducted the study, the temperature of the beach during the study, and if there were any chicks using the shelters, how many chicks were using them and of which shelter type. 

One memory stands out vividly: I remember intently watching a small, fluffy, gray Least Tern chick clumsily waddling in the open dunes, sprinting occasionally towards shady patches of grass.  I was in awe when I witnessed the chick approach one of our box shelters and duck its head into the shade.  I focused my binoculars onto the parent diving down to perch itself on top of the box, noticing its watchful and protective eyes gaze out into the far distance.

It was a rewarding way to spend the summer, enjoying the beach while contributing to the wellbeing of our local shorebirds.  

Throughout our time surveying, we had to overcome numerous challenges.  After a stormy night, we observed that several of the wooden shelters were destroyed and scattered across the beach shore. The next week, we saw parts of the protective fence were broken, and a beachgoer shared with me that he noticed people entering the protected colony’s fenced off nesting area.  

Later, we returned to Stehli Beach to help repair the shelters and the fencing. Even though we were faced with many difficulties, we worked hard to surmount them. I’m extremely grateful to Audubon for the opportunity to experience conservation firsthand and see the real impact it can have.