Ningbo records another successful tern breeding season

An adult Chinese crested tern rests alongside its chick. [Photo/Yongpai app]

A Chinese crested tern chick hatched on July 14 in Ningbo's Jiushan Islands National Nature Reserve, marking the final hatch of this breeding season and bringing the site's total hatchlings this year to 30.

According to on-site monitoring volunteers, the chick came from the colony's final unhatched egg. The parent pair had successfully hatched a chick earlier this season, but it later died. They subsequently laid a second egg, which hatched after nearly 28 days of incubation.

Volunteers said the adult birds closely protected the chick during the recent passage of Typhoon Bavi, sheltering it beneath their wings from strong winds and rain.

Often referred to in China as the "bird of legend" because it was long considered one of the world's rarest seabirds, the Chinese crested tern is classified as Critically Endangered by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN).

The Jiushan Islands National Nature Reserve is the world's largest breeding and habitat site for the species. A new round of artificial attraction and population restoration work began there on April 20, with volunteer monitors stationed on the islands to track and protect the birds throughout the breeding season.

Over 86 days of observation, volunteers recorded a peak of 86 adult Chinese crested terns breeding among a colony of more than 9,600 greater crested terns. The adults laid 50 eggs this season, while 30 chicks have hatched successfully so far.

The earliest chicks emerged in late May and early June. According to reserve officials, many are now learning to fly, while some juveniles have already been spotted along other parts of China's coast. Most are expected to leave the islands with the flock during migration in late July and early August.