In June, Morgan traveled to Buzzard’s Bay to learn more about tern colonies, a federally and state protected species.

Terns nest in groups called colonies, which can vary in size from just a few pairs to thousands. Bird Island and Ram Island, located in Buzzard’s Bay, are home to two colonies of thousands of Common and Roseate Terns.

Terns historically have nested on Nantucket and its nearby neighbors Tuckernuck and Muskeget. Learning the best ways to manage these endangered colonies from the experts allows the Natural Resources Department to provide the best chance of survival to these birds.

During her trip, Morgan visited the colonies to record the amount and weight of eggs within designated plots. Weighing the eggs allows technicians to better understand the birds' development. This task is performed while adult birds, in an attempt to protect their nests, do all they can to drive away humans, including diving to peck exposed heads, strategic pooping, and endless screeching. It’s a noisy, messy, beautiful affair.

A few weeks after her first visit, Morgan returned as soon as all of the eggs began to hatch. Thousands of baby terns covered the islands. Each chick was delicately weighed and fitted with a “band”, a metal bracelet fitting around the leg with a string of numbers, and then released back to their parents. The band will stay on for the entirety of the bird’s life. Each bird gets a unique number that allows people to track it throughout its life.

Each chick will be weighed up to three times during their growing stage. Weighing the chicks aids in calculating the success rate of fledging. The management insight gained from this experience will be applied to the tern colonies on Nantucket.