More than 50 seabird chicks are being cared for by International Bird Rescue (IBR) in San Pedro after being startled off their nesting site near Long Beach Harbor, possibly by boaters or fireworks over the Fourth of July weekend.
The elegant tern chicks were part of a large colony of about 4,000 terns that nest on an anchored barge near Long Beach Harbor, according to rescuers.
“These young terns are in crisis right now and we will do our very best to help them,” said JD Bergeron, CEO of International Bird Rescue. “If you frequent the area, we invite you to take action by keeping an eye out for orphaned or injured birds.”
International Bird Rescue was first notified of the terns by a tech living near Long Beach who saw reports on Nextdoor that baby birds were wandering along the shoreline, IBR communications manager Russ Curtis said. They also heard reports of boaters finding birds floating in the ocean.
Fireworks may have been involved in distributing the birds, but increased boating during the holiday weekend was also a factor, he said.
“It’s a very busy harbor. But there’s also just a lot of boating going on over the holiday between jet skis and then it’s actually a working port,” he said. “So you’ve got everything from tugboats to big ships coming in and going in smaller and smaller ships.”
When the young birds are startled, they can fall off the rocky barge, which is too steep for them to get back on.
Elegant terns are common along the California coast, but International Bird Rescue said they have few nesting areas and are vulnerable to disturbances by people, pets and predators. In May, another colony of elegant terns was disturbed at Bolsa Chica Reserve, and 3,000 nesting parents abandoned their eggs. In 2006, more than 500 terns washed up on the Long Beach shore following a barge incident.
Rescuers say they need intensive rehabilitative care, as young terns stay close to their parents for up to six months as they learn to feed in the wild. Terns that are orphaned will require at least eight weeks of rehabilitative care before being released into the wild.
“They’re doing well today. We’re back out in the field doing some more search and collection,” Curtis said. “There’s more birds coming in.”
Residents who find elegant tern chicks are encouraged to place them in a medium-size box with a towel and keep the box in a dark, quiet place. Residents should not attempt to feed the birds and instead ensure that they’re kept warm and call the IBM Wildlife Center at 310-514-2573.
International Bird Rescue is seeking donations from the public to support the rehabilitation process.
“We hope the public will help support the cost of these critical rescue efforts,” Bergeron said.
People can donate at birdrescue.org/help-terns.
City News Service contributed to this report.
