Orange Beach closely monitoring Tern nests at Alabama Point East

Orange Beach closely monitoring Tern nests at Alabama Point East

Although it was an amazing first month of the city’s turtle nesting season with 22 Loggerhead and two Kemp’s Ridley nests reported, The City of Orange Beach has also been closely monitoring feathered family building on its beaches.
The city’s Coastal Resources Dept. is now tracking over 200 Least Tern nests (above) in a small beach area at Gulf State Park at Alabama Point. The first nest was discovered on April 28 and nests hatching daily are producing beautiful chicks, which soon become extremely mobile and blend in with the sand.
Perdido Pass/Alabama Point East is part of Gulf State Park and consists of beach and sea oat habitat that serves as a nesting site for many other shorebirds, including Wading Herons and the Snowy Plover, a species of conservation concern. The Plover is most often found in depressions in the sand away from the water and near the first line of dunes.
Alabama Point also provides critical habitat for the federally endangered Perdido Key beach mouse and, along with the (Bird & Robinson) islands that dot Perdido Pass, offer important habitats and important nesting areas for a wide variety of shorebirds and wading birds in the summer. In winter, many Common Loons feed in the pass during changing tides. An occasional vagrant Red-throated or Pacific Loon may also show up.
The Least Terns have been extremely busy over the past weeks at Alabama Point. “Where you see sticks, we will soon have chicks,’’ is the slogan Coastal Resources staff came up with the alert beachcombers of the nests. Visitors should continue to respect roped off and posted areas while watching for new nests and camaflouged chicks.
For more info, call 251-981-1063 or email Fallan Batchelor @ fbatchelor@orangebeachal.gov.