Plan d'Action pour la conservation des espèces d'oiseaux inscrites ...

A large-scale study programme, using individualised plastic rings, is
under way, and promises to provide a much better understanding of
the species’ movements within the Mediterranean, of exchanges with
other nesting populations in Africa and Asia, of survival rates and of life
expectancy. This programme is to devote greater attention in future to
wintering areas on the southern shores of the Mediterranean.
3. Lesser Crested Tern Sterna bengalensis
Terns (or “sea-swallows”) are very graceful fish-eating birds, which nest
on the ground on beaches or the edges of coastal lagoons. In the case
of the Lesser Crested Tern, we are dealing with the Mediterranean
population (considered as an endemic sub-species) of a species
widely distributed through Africa and Asia. The nesting area of the
great majority of this population is on two small islands in the tidal zone
off the Libyan coast, which are therefore the priority area for any
conservation action for this species; it does also nest in other
Mediterranean countries, generally in colonies of other tern species,
particularly in France, Italy and Spain, where its numbers are showing a
tendency to increase. The wintering areas are poorly known and are
probably located off the eastern and western coasts of Africa.
4. Sandwich Tern Sterna sandvicensis
The Sandwich Tern (so called because it was first described in the
English town of Sandwich) has a broad world distribution. In the
Mediterranean a limited number (probably less than 3,000 pairs) nest
on the ground in deltas, coastal lagoons and salt-pans; much larger
numbers arrive from the north to winter in the Mediterranean region.
The priority is therefore to conserve the nesting populations, but also to
guarantee safe wintering sites for other populations. The species is
listed on Annex I of the European Union’s Directive on Wild Birds.
5. Little Tern Sterna albifrons
The Little Tern is the smallest of the terns; it comes to nest in the
Mediterranean and returns to winter along the eastern and western
coasts of Africa; while it is still fairly widely distributed as a nesting
species, its numbers have decreased alarmingly almost everywhere,
above all because of tourist developments along its nesting beaches.
Since it is more widespread than other terns, detailed inventories of its
colonies are lacking and little information is available on its numbers. It
is included on the European Union’s Directive on Wild Birds.
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