Gulf Power helps Audubon Florida count rooftop nesting shorebirds

MILTON — Shorebird nesting season is in full swing along the Gulf Coast and Gulf Power is stepping up to help make it a successful breeding year for birds that face huge obstacles.

Audubon Florida wildlife biologist Emily McKiddy will train Gulf Power lineworkers to help her scientifically conduct surveys of least terns nesting on rooftops of schools and a business in Milton, Pace and Pensacola.

“I’ll teach them how to identify the species we are looking for, how to count the parents and chicks, and talk to them about the bird’s behavior,” McKiddy said. “Sometimes you can’t see the eggs but you can tell by the way the bird is sitting on the nest it is sitting on eggs. We’ll record the data we collect.”

McKiddy, the coordinator for Audubon’s Panhandle Rooftop Nesting Program, said Gulf Power’s help is important to get a birds-eye view of the rooftop in a bucket truck without disturbing the birds, which have abandoned their nesting grounds on Florida Panhandle beaches in favor of the gravel rooftops.

Least terns are a protected seabird that traditionally returns to our beaches from Latin America to breed in colonies in sandy flats between dunes every spring.

With beach visitation and coastal development increasing in recent decades, these disturbance-sensitive least terns are turning to flat, gravel rooftops like Milton High School and S.S. Dixon Primary School in Santa Rosa County and Publix in Escambia County.

The gravel on the roofs mimics the white sand beaches that provide vital camouflage for the eggs and chicks. About 50 rooftops spread out across the Panhandle have been used by terns in recent years. This year, so far, terns are nesting on about 20 rooftops.

The roofs make the eggs and chicks vulnerable to a number of dangers –– predation from larger birds, excessive heat and falling off the roofs.

Audubon Florida’s Panhandle Rooftop Nesting Program monitors and tries to get a count on the number of nesting pairs, eggs, chicks and fledglings to determine how well the birds are adapting to their alternative nesting grounds.

The rooftop nesting sites make it difficult to monitor these birds to make sure they’re successfully breeding. The birds flush, or fly away, if humans get too near.

This article originally appeared on Santa Rosa Press Gazette: Gulf Power helps Audubon Florida count rooftop nesting shorebirds