Population status

Arctic Tern
(Sterna paradisaea)

Monitoring Arctic Terns is a significant challenge. Much of their breeding range is remote, they are difficult to distinguish from Common Terns with which their range overlaps, and they shift unpredictably among breeding locations (Gilchrist and Robertson 1999). However, Arctic Terns have decreased dramatically in abundance in some Arctic locations, and the recent abandonment of a large breeding colony at Machias Seal Island, Gulf of Maine, is cause for some concern (Gaston et al. 2009) although this is a managed site at the extreme southern edge of the species' range. Counts of Arctic Terns elsewhere in Atlantic Canada have shown no consistent trends since about 1970 (Gaston et al. 2009). Because the species is not systematically monitored across the vast majority of its broad breeding range, its status in Canada as a whole remains unknown.

References

• Gaston, A.J., D.F. Bertram, A.W. Boyne, J.W. Chardine, G. Davoren, A.W. Diamond, A. Hedd, W.A. Montevecchi, J.M. Hipfner, M.J.F. Lemon, M.L. Mallory, J.-F. Rail and G.J. Robertson. 2009. Changes in Canadian seabird populations and ecology since 1970 in relation to changes in oceanography and food webs. Environmental Reviews 17:267-286.
• Gilchrist, H.G. and G.J. Robertson. 1999. Population trends of gulls and Arctic terns nesting in the Belcher Islands, Nunavut. Arctic 52:325–331.
• Hatch, J.J. 2002. Arctic Tern (Sterna paradisaea). The Birds of North America Online (A. Poole, Ed.). Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, New York. Hatch, J.J. 2002. Arctic Tern (Sterna paradisaea). The Birds of North America Online (A. Poole, Ed.). Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, New York. (Link)