Common Good Productions

Marine Defender Carolyn Mostello, a wild bird biologist with Mass Wildlife's Buzzards Bay Tern Restoration Project, visits Ram Island where she is working to protect a nesting colony of Roseate Terns.

Roseate Terns, a federally endangered species, almost always nest in breeding colonies with their larger and more aggressive cousins, the Common Terns, who are fierce defenders of their shared nesting grounds. While similar in appearance, roseate terns are slightly smaller, have longer tails, and a light pink coloring on their breasts. The color of their beaks tend to be mostly black during the breeding season, while the common tern’s bill is orange with a black tip. Today, there are fewer than 4,000 breeding pairs of Roseate Terns remaining in North America.

Mostello explains the challenges of keeping the nesting colony viable and reflects on the impact of an oil spill in 2003 that nearly devastated the nesting colony. Learn more about the impact of marine oil spills on marine life here.