Despite the fact that native and migratory American birds are protected under law, it seems that people who kill them are rarely punished or they merely receive a perfunctory slap on the wrist. But this is will hopefully not be the case for "TernGate"; a mass killing of tern chicks in the Los Angeles-Long Beach port complex that occurred more than ten months ago.
Ralph Botticelli, owner of San Diego-based Point Loma Maritime Services, and a deckhand were attempting to move two privately owned barges from the port complex to Santa Barbara for a fireworks display when more than 500 nestling Caspian and elegant terns plunged off the sides, most being too young to fly. The adult terns were apparently attracted to the barges because they were flat, and resembled their preferred nesting sites. They nested on the barges after predators had chased them away from their previous nesting area in Huntington Beach's Bolsa Chica wetlands.
"The lesson here," said Garry George of Audubon Society's Los Angeles chapter, "is that migratory birds are protected, along with their nests: No one can perpetrate attacks on wildlife simply because they are in your way."
Cited TernGate story.
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Oh My - What a terrible thing to happen! Live & learn?! People hurting birds,just what I didn't want to read about but soo glad you posted. Maybe others will take it as a warning and be more observant when approching birds they are unaware of and what birds they are dealing with. Very sad indeed.