Caspian terns in the Columbia River estuary continue to favor Rice
Island as their nesting site, but research is revealing that the amount
of salmon in their diet declines over time and that the birds forage
a
wider range than previously thought, including outside the estuary.
Researchers estimate there are about 7,300 tern nests on Rice Island
and
most of them are crowded onto a one-acre unvegetated site. About 1,300
of those nests are in two satellite colonies just outside fencing …
