Comment on FR Doc # 2010-13779

August 9, 2010 Public Comments Processing Attn: FWS-R8-ES-2010-0035 Division of Policy and Directives Management; U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service; 4401 N. Fairfax Drive Suite 222; Arlington, VA 22203 SUBJECT: Petition To List van Rossem's Gull-billed Tern as Endangered or Threatened I support the listing of the van Rossem’s Gull-billed Tern (GBTE) as Endangered or Threatened as long as it can be implemented without further degrading the potential for the recovery of either the California Least Tern (LETE) or the Western Snowy Plover (SNPL). I have been working in the San Diego Bay area going back nearly 30 years. I have worked with the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, California Department of Fish and Game, the City of San Diego, U.S. Navy, U.S, Marine Corps, and the Port of San Diego to monitor and implement recovery efforts for the LETE, SNPL, and other avian species of concern. I have gained a comprehensive view of the impacts and interactions that have occurred as a result of this invading species’ sensitive status. The GBTE was first observed in San Diego in 1985 by myself, Robert Patton, and Elizabeth Copper. The first nesting occurred in 1987 with just three nests. Since that time, the number of nesting individuals has increased steadily with upwards of 81 nests, some 59 pairs or 118 individuals producing an estimated 51-63 fledglings from 170 eggs laid this year. The documented depredations of LETE and SNPL by GBTE have been 33 in 2006, 60 in 2007, 141 in 2008, 314 in 2009. So far this year only 99 depredations have been documented although the detailed sweep for bands around the GBTE nests has not yet been done. These totals (647 combined) have been cited by some to suggest there has been little impact by this species. However, most of the predation events were not documented as GBTE require only seconds to snatch and consume a chick or egg. We have observed anywhere from single individuals to as many as 19 GBTE foraging on nesting sites at one time. Our monitors are not on site during all daylight hours or even during the night as the GBTE have recently been documented by the radio tagging study. Thus, many predation events have gone unobserved and undocumented. Even when monitors are on site, the GBTE often forage at distances where they cannot be observed definitively taking chicks. When the GBTE carries a chick back to their nest to provision their chicks the band sometimes ends up in a regurgitated pellet where some of them can be found. When an adult GBTE consumes a chick, I have observed the adult GBTE regurgitate the band in the air (over water in this case) and thus the band never made it back to their nesting site to be further documented. The level of predation may be inferred from the difference between the number of LETE hatches and the number of fledglings produced at Naval Base Coronado between 2002 and 2010. During that time there were approximately 14,000 hatches and only about 1,400 fledglings produced. The caveat being one expects that under normal circumstances approximately 50% of the hatchlings to survive to fledge, the 14,000 hatches should have resulted in up to 7,000 fledglings. The 1,400 estimated fledglings would therefore represent just 20% of the expected productivity for those years. The GBTE would only have to have consumed 622 hatchlings per year to account for the 5600 chicks missing from NBC during those years and could easily have eaten many, many more (some proportion of the other 7,000 not found dead or depredated by other predators). An individual GBTE can consume 50-80g per day which would equate to 9 to 14 chicks per day, reduced by their consumption other prey including lizards, mole crabs, or insects. In San Diego County and recently Orange County, the increasing population of GBTE is tending to put at risk the recovery of both SNPL and LETE. Gull-billed terns have been documented foraging on nearly all tern (exceptions being Lindbergh Field and North Island Mat Site) and plover nesting sites in San Diego County and have expanded to Orange County were they were documented taking chicks. The nesting of GBTE represents a range expansion into essential habitat of both LETE and SNPL directly impacting more than 60% of the LETE population and more than 16% of the SNPL population. These percentages cover just Unit 6 and with further expansion of the GBTE to as far north as San Francisco Bay as indicated by the recent sightings there, the percentages could reach 100% for terns and 76% for plovers. At present, the status of the GBTE is unclear as the species is expanding in the range of sightings while only nesting presently in south San Diego Bay. The two largest tern colonies, namely those at Naval Base Coronado and to a lesser extent Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton, are visited regularly by foraging GBTE with multitudes of chicks of both species having been depredated annually for many years. The situation could change abruptly should nesting be documented anywhere north of their present nesting areas and there is no predicting where the new nest sites could occur. Some opinions have been voiced that GBTE should not be “allowed” to nest outside of San Diego Bay. However, this attitude dooms the San Diego County populations of LETE and SNPL as the GBTE have consumed nearly all the young of these two species produced in the southern half of the county for many years. I urge that the FWS consider listing the GBTE as Threatened instead of Endangered if doing so would provide the flexibility to implement management concepts that protect all three species. The current lack of clear limits or management goals for the GBTE has resulted in an unmanaged and unacceptable loss of the other two species. Please keep me informed of future notices, meetings, publications, and milestones in this process. Sincerely, Brian D. Foster, Ph.D. 11812 Avd. Marcella El Cajon, CA 92019 bfostern@hotmail.com