The Recovery Plan for the Common Tern (Sterna hirundo), on Bermuda, is now available for download.
Written by Miguel Mejias, PhD student and summer intern for the Department of Environment and Natural Resources, this document highlights the specific threats and the feasible solutions for the survival for the Common Tern in Bermuda.
Despite its name, the Common Tern is currently the rarest breeding seabird in Bermuda. The White-tailed Tropicbird or Longtail (Phaethon lepturus catesbyi) and the Bermuda Petrel or Cahow (Pterodroma cahow) are the first and second-most abundant respectively (Mejias 2017).
Bermuda Common Terns have been classifed as a Level 1 protected species and considered to be Vulnerable under the Bermuda Protected Species Amendment Order (2016). It is an offense for an unauthorized person to willfully damage, destroy, injure, disturb, remove, uproot, fell, kill, import, export, sell or purchase a Level 1 protected species of any part of a Level 1 protected species.
The primary objectives of this recovery plan are to stimulate population growth and nesting distribution of Common Terns on Bermuda.