In August and September, punky-crested white seabirds normally seen in southern climes descended upon the Bay Area in the thousands. Clouds of them swirled at Crissy Marsh, getting rowdy among themselves with their karr-eeks and gaks. Huge gaggles thronged the Pacifica Pier and the Alameda Naval Air Station, their tangerine beaks and hairdos standing out among the seagulls.
It terns out they may be here to stay.
Elegant terns, previously known for only breeding in a few select locations off the coast of Mexico and Southern California, appear to have established breeding grounds across at least seven sites in the Bay Area, say researchers and longtime birders. This May, birder Tony Brake uploaded photos to eBird of crowds of elegant terns and at least one egg on the shoreline of Brooks Island, a small, shrubby island that’s a half-mile from Richmond. He estimated some 1,800 elegant terns were milling around on the island.
Before 2024, nobody had ever reported spotting any elegant terns nesting there…