Friends From the Field: Black Terns and Other Marsh Rarities

September 25, 2025 @ 4:00 pm - 5:00 pm

The black tern (Chlidonias niger) is the rarest tern in Maine, and nests in just a handful of freshwater marshes in the state.  Since 1989, IFW has closely monitored its population watching it wax and wane to its current level of only 30 nesting pairs in the state.  In 2021, IFW began marking this state Endangered species with color bands and geolocators to better understand movements between wetlands, return rates to breeding sites, and where they go during migration and winter.  Learn about the habits and habitats of black terns and other rare birds that can be found in Maine’s marshes.

Join BHHT, IHT, and presenter, Maine IFW specialist, Danielle D'Auria for our first Friends From the Field webinar of the 2025-26 season.

Register at: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/85935626965?pwd=a3fRxVfJk44Hwb2gHj0cIPZK7B814x.1

Danielle is Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife’s species expert on secretive marsh birds, colonial wading birds, common loons, and black terns. She recently moved into the Bird Group Leader position, now supervising other nongame bird species specialists. She earned her Bachelor of Science degree in Biology from State University of New York at Geneseo in 1998, and in 2002, earned a Master of Science degree in Wildlife Science at New Mexico State University. Danielle’s early work experience included technician positions working with various threatened and endangered bird species in the northeast and southwest. After graduate school she first worked for the USFWS as Refuge Operations Specialist at the Nisqually National Wildlife Refuge in Washington state. She first joined MDIFW as a member of the Habitat Group, managing statewide wildlife and habitat databases. In 2008, she joined the Bird Group as the Department’s Waterbird Specialist. Currently her work focuses on understanding statewide populations of waterbird species as well as land management issues affecting the wetland habitats they depend on. She conducts surveys, monitoring and research, and uses bird banding and tracking devices to understand movements of her focal species during all life stages.  Over the past 17 years, she has devoted a great deal of effort to great blue heron surveys and research, including coordination of a volunteer monitoring program called the Heron Observation Network of Maine and has used GPS transmitters to track great blue herons during breeding, migration, and wintering. In 2021, she began marking black terns with color bands and geolocators to better understand return rates, and full annual cycle movements. She has a passion for getting students of all ages involved in the field and ultimately in conservation. Her favorite outdoor activities are kayaking, hiking, and cross-country skiing.