On July 3 Jeanine and I took our nearly-weekly summer venture into the Sedge Islands, and although as expected for this time of year there wasn’t much bird diversity or numbers yet, we were rewarded with spotting a Roseate Tern. Last year we found our first-ever Roseate Terns in NJ on July 12, (actually, not a single Roseate, but a group of three), and we continued to see them for the next three weeks. This year up to five Roseates have been reported sporadically but regularly from the nearby Island Beach North Natural Area.
So that got me to thinking. Are Roseate Terns becoming more common to see in NJ (and more specifically here in Ocean County) as their population increases, or are people just reporting them more due to heightened awareness of how to recognize them combined with eBird and instant text services that make their locations known to other birders? I still don’t know the complete answer, but they are indeed being spotted more frequently here based on eBird reports. I looked at the eBird records for Ocean County for the past seven years, and here are the results.
From 2000 through 2013 there were no reports of Roseate Terns in Ocean County.
In 2014 there were three July reports from Island Beach State Park (IBSP).
In 2015 there was one bird in Ocean County (Holgate in July).
In 2016 there were two sightings in Ocean.
In 2017 there were two sightings in Ocean County, both in July.
In 2018 there were multiple sightings in the Sedge Islands in a three-week span in June and July. Because the Roseates were banded, it was clear that multiple birds were involved.
In 2019 we have had multiple sightings centered around IBSP, between the Sedge Islands, the northern Natural Area of IBSP, and in Barnegat Inlet, with up to four Roseates being seen at a time.
So there we have it; we are experiencing a steady increase in sightings of Roseate Terns in Ocean County, with this species being absent (in eBird) until 2013, transitioning to being rare but regular for four years, and for the past two years becoming uncommon but expected in increasing numbers, with Island Beach State Park becoming a reliable hotspot, peaking in July. Roseates tend to disperse northerly up to Cape Cod after breeding, so if you haven’t seen any yet this year, now is the time to look before they are all gone.
A banded Roseate Tern from Island Beach State Park July 3, 2019.