morganheim_CCT-2750
A Chinese crested tern fends off the advances of an angry neighboring Greater crested tern while guarding its chick. The terns hatch one chick per nest. There are at most 35 nesting pairs on the colony, accounting for only about 2 percent of the nests on the island. Of those Chinese crested nests, it would be considered lucky if half of the eggs hatched, and luckier still if half the hatched chicks survived into adulthood. With those odds, a good year would mean the addition of about ten birds to the population of the Chinese crested terns on this island.