No, the terns on this island have definitely been disturbed during breeding and it must have been the incident photographed by Alan Chan and his group.
I have been independently monitoring the terns on this island on a weekly basis, and can confirm that the numbers fell from over 60 to very few immediately after the weekend of 12/13 July. Also the terns can now only be seen resting on open bare rock whereas previously they could be seen in pairs all around the island in crevices etc. I reported the sudden fall in numbers to Alan last Tuesday. He told me what he had seen the previous weekend, I didn't know about the disturbance until then.
Last year, the terns raised many young on this island and were still there in mid August. There are now no young birds or signs of nesting to be seen, and only a few adult birds around.
Update on 22nd July. No terns to be seen on the island today. One Black-naped and one Roseate flying in the area. We have lost at least 30 mixed pairs of Bridled, Black-naped and Roseate Terns.
[ Last edited by wgeoff at 22/07/2008 16:29 ]
