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Friday, March 29, 2024 | Back issues
Courthouse News Service Courthouse News Service

The Law Worked: Bird Will Fly Off Endangered List

After 34 years on the endangered species list, the least tern, a tiny Midwestern bird, is ready to fly free of federal protection.

WASHINGTON (AP) — After 34 years on the endangered species list, the least tern, a tiny Midwestern bird, is ready to fly free of federal protection.

Once hurt the by the damming of major rivers such as the Missouri and before that diminished by hunting for feathers for hats, the interior least tern population has increased tenfold since 1985 to more than 18,000.

The number of nests has jumped from 48 to 480, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service said Wednesday in proposing to take the bird off the list.

The delisting started six years after the service suggested that the species has recovered and after a computer modeling showed the population will be stable.

Even conservationists and advocacy groups that often battle the Trump administration hailed the long-trek migrating bird's recovery as an environmental success story.

"Delisting is reasonable," Center for Biological Diversity endangered species director Noah Greenwald said. "It shows that when we actually pay attention and care, we can help species and reverse damage we've done in the past. We can undo part of the damage we've done to these rivers."

"All around it's a pretty good news situation," American Bird Conservancy president Michael Parr agreed.

After nearly being hunted to extinction for feathers for women's hats in the 1800s, the Midwestern population of least terns started doing better until after World War II, Fish and Wildlife Service recovery biologist Paul Hartfield said. Then dams, especially on the Missouri River, eliminated the riverside beaches that the tiny birds need.

Working with the Army Corps of Engineers, biologists concentrated on a smaller bird population in the Lower Mississippi River. Changes in water management increased the size of islands and created new ones in the river, making more places for the birds to nest and live, Hartfield said.

"The least tern in the Mississippi River exploded" from a few hundred birds in the 1980s to at least 10,000 now, he said.

Greenwald credited the Army Corps of Engineers but warned: "The tern has been recovered, but the ecosystem hasn't."

There are three populations of least terns in the United States. One in California is still on the endangered list, and the eastern one is doing fine.

Least terns are the smallest tern, but they travel far. Hartfield said one bird was tagged in South Dakota and later was found in Japan.

"That's how strong a flyer they are," he said. "It's really a tough little bird."

They nest on the ground and feed on small fish and live quite long for their size, about 15 years, Hartfield said. They migrate every fall to the Caribbean and South America.

Greenwald, of the Center for Biological Diversity, said the least tern is a good example of how the endangered species law can work even as scientists warn of 1 million species going extinct in coming decades.

"We should be proud of ourselves for caring for it and protecting it," he said. "That shows that if we put our mind to it we can stop the extinction crisis."

Categories / Environment, National, Science

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