Photo: Banded Tern, Virginia Society of Ornithology
How Birders Can Help
Governor Northam’s commitment to help the 25,000 migratory birds whose nesting area on the South Island was displaced by the expansion of the Hampton Roads Bridge Tunnel has resulted in significant action in the past few weeks. Creation of an alternate nesting area at Rip Raps Island (also known as Ft. Wool) is proceeding, as trees have been cut down, a contract to eradicate pests has been executed and the sand and gravel to build the new nesting area are on their way. Acquisition of barges to serve as supplemental nesting areas is underway, and the Virginia Secretary of Natural Resources is consulting with National Audubon Society and American Bird Conservancy on the best ways to attract birds to the new site. Long-term, a portion of the South Island will be returned to a nesting area after construction is complete, and the Northam Administration is committed to construction of a new artificial island.
Despite the efforts to protect the birds, it is inevitable that some of the birds will be displaced by the construction. The Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries and Virginia Tech banded about 5000 of the nesting birds in the last two breeding seasons. They have asked birders to be on the lookout for banded Royal Terns, Gull-Billed Terns, Common Terns, Laughing Gulls, Sandwich Terns, and Black Skimmers and to forward the information to a central data collection point. You can learn more about what information to collect and where to send it on the Virginia Society of Ornithology’s Website.