Our exhibit holds one common tern. We nicknamed her "Ike" before we found out she was a female. Ike was found as a chick in the summer of 2005 on a beach in southern Massachusetts. She was mistakenly though to be abandoned by her parents and was brought to a rehabilitation center before we eventually gave her a permanent home.

Tern parents often leave their chicks on the beach while they fish offshore. So if you ever see a tern chick without a parent watch it for a while and I bet you'll see an adult come back pretty soon with a beak full of fish. If you don't see a parent return then contact a local wildlife rehabber or your local animal control officer before you try to handle any wildlife.


Ike is perfectly healthy and can fly very well but we can't release her back into the wild. Common terns need their parents to show them how to migrate and forage for food. We sometimes see her catching live silversides out of the exhibit pool but she's not very good at it, she prefers to eat defrosted fish out of a bowl! You can see her in this picture looking at a silverside that contains her daily vitamin. Check back for video of her catching and eating worms!

-Kate

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Labels: common tern, new england aquarium shorebird exhibit

Our exhibit holds two sanderlings, a male and a female. The male comes to us from a former exhibit and can fly very well. The female was found in the winter of 2007 on a beach on Long Island. Vets in New York discovered severe fractures of her radius and ulna and successfully rehabilitated her, although she can not fly. She therefore has found a permanent home in our exhibit. You can tell her apart from the male because of her slightly droopy right wing. They are seen here in their winter plumage. They're currently in the midst of their spring molt so check back in a few months to see them in their full breeding plumage.



-Kate

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Labels: Kate, Meet our Shorebird Collection, new england aquarium shorebird exhibit, sanderling

I often find empty snail shells on the beach, and I suspect the rail is the one that ate them. I once saw her try to eat a three-inch-wide green crab! She eventually backed down when he bared his claws at her.







-Kate

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Labels: crab, fish, hunting, Kate, new england aquarium shorebird exhibit, snail, Virginia Rail

Labels: Kate, new england aquarium shorebird exhibit, smooth sumac