Eyes on the Colony

Least Tern Monitoring at Seal Beach National Wildlife Refuge:

By Carolyn Vance, USFWS Volunteer, Seal Beach NWR

Volunteers Needed

Eyes on the Colony (EOTC), the California Least Tern predator monitoring program, needs your help! Last year was not as successful as it could have been with no more than 16 fledglings ever seen at one time out of 120+ chicks.

This was primarily due to all the predation by Peregrine falcons and Red-tailed hawks. After battling Great-horned owls and Kestrels the last couple of years, and having a great 2016 year, we are dismayed with last year’s results.

Documentation

We need to document any predation to the terns. Permitting standards require that we thoroughly document and identify avian predators which are taking Least terns before requesting their removal. So, the Refuge needs more help observing avian predators at times when they are active.

Observers

If you can commit to a minimum of 4 hours a week to EOTC, or just want more information, please contact Refuge Manager Rick Nye via email at: Richard_nye@fws.gov. Historically, we have watched in four hour shifts from 7:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. Apply quickly, the season is just starting, and you will not want to miss the opportunity. California Least tern nesting season, will begin now and continue into early summer. You must obtain a badge from the Navy to access the Refuge by filling out some background paperwork and must be a U.S. Citizen. Training and equipment is provided.

Fringe Benefits

I adore doing EOTC! A car is the best birding blind, and besides watching our wonderful Least terns going back and forth, you will get up close looks at Belding’s Savannah sparrows, swallows, and all the other birds and critters that call the Refuge home and/or breed here. See the Birds Photo Gallery for additional views of Seal Beach National Wildlife Refuge’s winged visitors.

Sea Turtle’s Travels

Green Sea Turtle

Our Green Sea Turtle (Chelonia mydas) got bored hanging around the Nature Center, so we all hopped in the Pelican Van and motored on out to Cabrillo Marine Aquarium’s  Autumn Sea Fair on November 19, 2017. Preferring to be chauffeured and wanting to share his adventure, he took Volunteers

Volunteers: Carolyn Vance, Patti Smith and Esther Cummings

Esther Cummings, Patti Smith, Carolyn Vance and Jillian Gallery along for the ride. He also brought along California Sea Lion (Zalophus californianus) and Harbor Seal (Phoca vitulina) (replica skulls) to show everyone he’s a vegetarian.

Turtle / Autumn Sea Fair

Once there, he basked in the attention of hundreds of children and adults, all wanting to check him out! He showed them his stubby “teeth”, which have finely serrated edges, like the teeth of a saw, which he uses to tear and eat the eel grass in the Refuge’s ponds.

Green, being a very generous sea turtle, gave the children posters of his friends, ocean fish, plus coloring and activity books to remember their visit with him. Their parents were told about all the fun learning to be had on the monthly Refuge Tour and were invited to come visit.

Dangers of Trash

“Trashy,” Trash Monster

Green was so very happy to see that the Aquarium warned everyone about the dangers of trash in the sea, and urged them to not throw plastic into his home. He put on a brave beak at the sight of Trash Monster, but with all of his old, and new friends, there to support him, he stared down Trashy.

After a long day at the Aquarium, Green was exhausted and glad to be back home, resting comfortably on top of his fur-topped shelf in the Nature Center. He knows the Refuge, with all the eel grass, is a good place for his relatives to eat and visit. He would just like to join them.

Come visit Green, and all the other fish, sea turtle, mammals, birds and humans at their home in our tidal salt marsh, here at the Seal Beach NWR.

National Public Lands Day 2017

Toyota Volunteer 2017 Team

Seal Beach National Wildlife Refuge and The U.S. Navy welcomes, the Toyota Volunteer 2017 Team. Toyota Motor North America, is the Corporate sponsor  of (NPLD) National Public Lands Day 2017. Toyota Volunteers once again have stepped up and have given assistance to the Refuge in support of this special day. National Public Lands Day is a single-day volunteer event for public lands. Typically the event is held annually on the last Saturday in September. Seal Beach (NWR) National Wildlife Refuge and Seal Beach Naval Weapons Station have had to modify this date to meet everyone’s availability. A Pre-National Public Lands Day exclusive to Toyota and an additional day were added for the Public.

Toyota Volunteers 2017 Restore Habitat

Before the cleanup

September 29, Toyota Volunteers showed that they were “Driven” to give. Their work will make the habitat and Refuge a better place for all. They would like to encourage all to make a difference. Nationally, this event brings together hundreds of thousands of individuals and organizations that will collectively help restore America’s public lands.

Making the world a better place are not just words from a song, it is what you can do in your own backyard. Whether you visit one our Country’s National Parks, Refuges or even a city park, make everyday a Public Lands Day and put liter in its place.

Toyota Volunteers

Toyota Volunteers getting started

Make a Difference

The Toyota Volunteers came to the event eager and smiling. Participants enjoyed their day cleaning the trash debris that has been piling up along the shoreline of the salt marsh on the Refuge. They were amazed at what they had found and the amount of trash collected in the small strip of the Refuge where they worked. Many were heard to say, “Our families will stop using straws and Styrofoam containers.” Therefore, even if they do not, it would be nice if all this trash found its way into trash bins and stayed out of the waterways. By the end of the afternoon it was clear that this group had made a difference and the trailer full of trash proved it.

Success!

Invitation to Give Back

The Public has been invited to participate in this National Public Lands Day 2017 event on October 14, 2017, from 8 A.M. till 12 P.M. Bring your family, friends, students, or coworkers to spend the day outdoors giving back to your community by picking up trash, that has found its way onto a beautiful stretch of Orange County beach that needs some love and a little less trash. Most of all, your work will help ensure that our public lands continue to be beautiful places for all to enjoy!

Recently introduced

Volunteers keeping the Refuge clean!

Visitors and residents can now see the results of  the “NEW ” program,  Adopt-a-Highway. Recently introduced as a new program and volunteer activity of the Friends of Seal Beach National Wildlife Refuge. The State of California allows individuals or groups to participate in this program designed to keep our roadways clean. Roadside trash will now be collected and recycled along Pacific Coast Highway. The Southern edge of the Seal Beach National Wildlife Refuge borders P.C.H.. Volunteers have seen a need and are taking action to improve and beautify Pacific Coast Highway. This “New” program is intended to divert a constant flow of trash that makes it’s way into the Refuge and as a result will make Seal Beach a more attractive place to visit.

Volunteers keep liter in its place

Remember that storm drains and rivers carry more than water to our salt marshes and beaches. Trash is moved by water run-off from city streets and will follow the course of rivers and drainage channels, sometimes traveling for miles until it reaches the ocean.

Storm runoff along Pacific Coast Hwy.

If you can do your part to keep liter in its place we will be working together to save our local beaches the fragile Salt marsh habitat and the environment. Did you know that the Eastern Pacific Green Sea Turtle (also known as the Black Sea Turtle) uses the waterways of the Seal Beach National Wildlife Refuge? Green Sea Turtles’ natural food is sea grasses and algae, common plastic bags and trash are often mistaken for food. Eating this type of food may result in death or life threatening entanglement.

Green sea turtles, along with all six other species of sea turtles, are listed as either threatened or endangered under the Endangered Species Act. This means that they face a risk of extinction in the wild.

 

Please by careful as you drive by our team of volunteer workers, they are there to to help Seal Beach and the Seal Beach National Wildlife Refuge’s natural beauty shine.