OREGON
Near the mouth of the Columbia River in
Oregon, Alfred Hitchcock’s movie, The Birds, has come to life. Over
10,000 pairs of Caspian terns nest on Rice Island, and while the
birds aren’t attacking people, they are eating millions of young
salmon (HCN, 10/26/98: Are birds to blame for vanishing
salmon?).
A biological assessment of endangered
salmon recommends that the Army Corps of Engineers relocate the
birds. So starting April 1, two people will inhabit the colony’s
home on Rice Island, to scare the skittish terns away and steal
their eggs. The Corps hopes that by playing mating calls on a
nearby island, they can lure the birds there, where they’ll be
farther from juvenile salmon moving through the
water.
Researchers worry that this solution could
yield more problems.
“It’s not clear where all
these birds are going to go,” says wildlife biologist Daniel Roby.
“It’s not clear that there’s enough habitat or enough food to
support all these terns if they were to nest on an alternative
site. Until there are other colonies established, I think the
conservation community is going to be very leery and anxious about
eliminating the Rice Island colony.”
Critics say
that compared to other factors causing the decline of salmon, such
as dams or climate change, terns are a minor
problem.
“We don’t want to divert energy, time
and resources away from looking at the bigger issue of what kills
salmon on these rivers, which are the dams,” says LeeAnne Tryon of
Save Our Wild Salmon.
Ironically, the Corps
created Rice Island entirely from materials it had dredged from
shipping channels on the Columbia River. Every year, it adds more
sand to the manmade island – creating the perfect habitat for
Caspian terns.
This article appeared in the print edition of the magazine with the headline Tern terror.
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