Wildlife

Terns take to the rafts as bay islands keep shrinking

Colonial waterbirds nest on exactly the low islands disappearing fastest. Floating platforms buy the colonies time.

Jun 4MCBP Science Team4 min read

Bay islands are being lost to erosion, sea level rise and natural succession — and they are essential habitat for skimmers, terns and other waterbirds.

Floating rafts, surfaced with shell and sand and anchored in sheltered water, rise and fall with the tide and keep ground predators away. Nests are monitored through the season to track occupancy and productivity.

Rafts are not a substitute for islands. Alongside them, work continues at Skimmer Island in Sinepuxent Bay and on the Tizzard Island resiliency plan in Chincoteague Bay.

Sinepuxent Bay
#1 of 5
The smallest bay, flushed by the Ocean City inlet
Sinepuxent Bay's drainage includes northern Assateague Island and a narrow strip of the mainland south of Route 50, including the Route 611 corridor and land to the east. It is the smallest of the five coastal bays subwatersheds, and receives considerable oceanic flushing from the Ocean City inlet.
Watershed:
Smallest of the five subwatersheds
Health ranking:
Healthiest of the five
Explore Sinepuxent
Chincoteague Bay
#2 of 5
The largest watershed, shared with Virginia
Chincoteague Bay watershed is the largest of the five watersheds. It includes land south of Langmaid Road to the Virginia border and into Virginia; half of the drainage area is in Accomack County, Virginia, including the town of Chincoteague. The watershed contains extensive marshes, farms and forest, with close to half of it forested. Ten of twelve wetlands of special state concern are here — sites of rare, threatened and endangered species — and the bay's importance to migrating waterfowl is noted internationally.
Watershed:
Largest of the five watersheds
Health ranking:
Second healthiest
Explore Chincoteague
Wildlife
Tern Nesting Rafts
Floating nesting platforms give common terns safe ground as bay islands erode away beneath them.

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