Survey Reveals Record High Least Tern Count on Audubon Sanctuary in North Carolina

From counting colonial waterbirds, to setting up sanctuary postings, to monitoring nests—the coastal nesting season is underway for Audubon staff and birds.

Volunteers counting nests on Lea-Hutaff Island. Photo: Lindsay Addison/Audubon

By Brittany Salmons

Senior Communications Associate

Published June 18, 2026

This article is from Audubon North Carolina . Find Audubon near you here.

This spring, birds wasted no time in returning to their breeding grounds on the Lower Cape Fear River and surrounding sites to court mates, build nests, and lay eggs. Although the timing of migration and nesting is also influenced by day length, mild temperatures in the early spring helped nesting get underway a little early this year.

Now, our islands and sanctuaries are covered with parents tending to long-legged, or fluffy—or both!—young. We have a record number of Least Terns on Lea-Hutaff Island, 95 pairs of American Oystercatcher on the Lower Cape Fear River, and even a Piping Plover pair overseeing tiny chicks on the south end of Hutaff Island.

Audubon manages a network of 15 coastal islands and sanctuary sites which protect 40 percent of our state’s nesting waterbirds. Every year we put up over 700 signs across our sanctuary network. These postings protect parents and chicks from human disturbance every summer, from March 1 to September 15. Without year-round monitoring and management, birds wouldn’t have a place to nest, rest, and refuel along our coast.

Get the full recap of the season so far and learn how you can help us conserve some of North Carolina’s most iconic and imperiled water birds.

Record Least Tern Numbers at Lea-Hutaff

Lea-Hutaff has proven to be a stronghold for Least Terns once again. This year we counted 1,146 pairs nesting on the island, which is about one-third of the state’s entire population and a new high count for the island. Our second highest year was in 2019 with 1,104 nests.

Right now, the terns have eggs and chicks on the ground, which makes it even more important for boaters visiting the island to share the shore. Posted areas not only encompass nests and chicks, but buffer distance between people and birds. Without some space between the two, parent birds are flushed away from their young, leaving them alone and unprotected from heat, predators, and other threats.

The Least Terns on Lea-Hutaff are in three main colonies, with 924 pairs on the Hutaff side of the island, which is owned by the Coastal Land Trust. “These are very impressive colonies for the Least Terns, as predation by coyotes and human disturbance are a recurring challenge for these birds,” Addison said. “This year we’ve been very fortunate so far that coyotes haven’t had a large impact, and though we did have one very serious violation of the Hutaff postings, we’re very grateful to the vast majority of boaters who have been respectful of the posted areas.”

We also have Willets, Wilson’s Plovers, Common Nighthawks, Green Herons, Black Skimmers, American Oystercatchers, and the Piping Plover pair who are also raising chicks on Lea-Hutaff Island.

We Counted Thousands of Nests for the Triennial Colonial Waterbird Census

Every three years, Audubon joins a state-wide effort to count colonial—or group nesting—waterbirds like Least Terns, Black Skimmers, Brown Pelicans, and more. The 2023 census showed steep declines for birds like the Black Skimmer, which saw a 47 percent decline in nesting pairs, compared to the 15-year average for the species. Plagued by flooding and predation, these birds are a high priority for us and other site managers.

Partners from across the state counted 49,043 nests and 21 species from April to May in 2023. This year we did it all again to continue gaining information that can help site managers put what they’re seeing year to year in the context of these species’ overall populations in the state.

“This is the best way we can get an accurate picture of the birds that call our state home,” said coastal biologist Lindsay Addison. “It's a remarkable effort by partners all across the state and it’s a data set we’re lucky to have.”

In the fall, the data is then compiled by the North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission into a report which is used to inform monitoring, management, and research. Stay tuned for the results from this year’s count.

Terns Get Tracking Backpacks

We continued our partnership with Dr. Kate Goodenough, lead ecologist at Larid Research and Conservation, to track the full annual life cycle of Royal and Sandwich Terns.

In 2024 we deployed 10 miniature data loggers that fit on the terns like a backpack and use the GPS satellite system to collect location data. The data gathered has helped us gain a better understanding of how terns forage along our coast and revealed hemispheric connections.

In 2025 we continued the project by deploying trackers on eight Royal Terns and eight Sandwich Terns. This year we deployed 18 more trackers, all but two on Sandwich Terns, and are going through the 2025 data to see what it can tell us about Sandwich Tern movements.

Colony Moves Island After Coyote Scare

Ferry Slip and South Pelican Islands on the Cape Fear River were created from dredged material and are two of only four or five total Royal and Sandwich Tern nesting sites in the state. For the past six years, their colony had chosen to nest on South Pelican Island, but this year they are now on Ferry Slip Island. This is because a coyote decided to go for a swim and check out South Pelican right before they laid their eggs.

These terns almost exclusively nest on dredged-material islands and so have a hard time finding suitable nesting habitat. Thankfully, we also maintain Ferry Slip Island as a viable nesting site so that it provides the same open, bare sand habitat they need. “We have never documented a coyote on any of the river islands before this year,” Addison said. “We caught it on a trail camera and found its tracks, as well as depredated eggshells."

Also on the river are Brown Pelicans, White Ibis, Great Egrets, Snowy Egrets, and Little Blue Herons. Large groupings of these birds can be found on Battery Island, as they tend to nest in trees and dense grasses.

We also see a network of just under 100 pairs of American Oystercatcher on the river every year. We closely monitor about 60 of those so we can see what factors influence their success or failure. Sometimes we use trail cameras to confirm bands or observe hatching without disturbance to the nest—and we often end up with interesting slice of American Oystercatcher life images to boot!

A Big Thank You to the Stewards on Wrightsville Beach

At our most visible sanctuary on the South End of Wrightsville Beach, our beach bird stewards have been hard at work walking the posting and educating beachgoers about the amazing bird spectacle that takes place right in front of us every year.

This year we have 75 stewards, including 15 first timers. Without the hard work of our stewards, Least Terns, Black Skimmers, Common Terns, and American Oystercatchers wouldn’t be able to nest on this valuable beach.

“As is becoming routine, Ruddy Turnstones have delayed the onset of Black Skimmer nesting at the site by pecking open eggs as they are laid. We’re seeing fewer turnstones now that we’re well into June so we’re hoping that nests being initiated now will stick,” said Addison. “This illustrates how people don’t have to physically step on an egg to cause a problem, since if skimmers are flushed off their nests, they are then vulnerable to the turnstones.”

Share the Shore and Enjoy Birds from a Safe Distance

With this many birds up and down the coast nesting and raising chicks, it’s extremely important to remember to share the shore. You can help by respecting posted nesting sanctuaries, cleaning up trash, keeping dogs leashed and far away from nesting birds, and talking to bird stewards when you see them.

If you’d like to get a closer look at our nesting birds in the company of an expert, free, guided bird walks begin in May and occur every Monday morning at 9 am until August 15 on the south end of Wrightsville Beach.