Sightings June 11 A closer look at UNO Least Terns

Today I found a spot to look at the Least Tern colony atop Milneburg Hall at UNO.  Unfortunately, the viewing spot is from the top floor of an adjacent building, from (for now) a restricted area. 

There were 19 terns sitting with their bellies nestled on the rooftop gravel, apparently incubating eggs.  Other adults were coming and going, several per minute.  One tern had a downy fledgling already, which it had brought into the shade of one of the rooftop pipes.  It must be hot up on the roof!

Believe it or not, terns were not the only species nesting on the roof- a Killdeer was tending a small downy fledgling.  The adult was involved in several minutes of altercation with an adult Least Tern, in which neither seemed to have the upper hand.  I can only imagine that the Killdeer, in the process of getting its young to where it was (in the shade of another rooftop fixture), had gotten close to the tern's nest.

Peter

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