Sunday 8 November 2020

SMITHSONIAN VOICES NATIONAL ZOO Searching for the Invisible, Invincible Peruvian Tern

A small shorebird bird, called a Peruvian tern, stands camouflaged among the sand and rocks of its desert nesting habitat
The Peruvian tern's desert camouflage makes it almost impossible to track, but that’s exactly what our research team set out to do. (Smithsonian's National Zoo and Conservation Biology Institute)

Esta historia esta disponible en español aquí.

On Peru’s pacific coastline, where desert meets sea, lives one of the least studied and most at-risk birds: the Peruvian tern, known locally as “gaviotin Peruano” (Sternula lorata). The tern is nearly invisible in its native habitat, which looks more like a moonscape than anything you would expect to find on Earth. Its desert camouflage makes it almost impossible for scientists to track, but that’s exactly what our team set out to do. It would take us four months to survey more than 1,851 acres, battling sandstorms, stifling heat and impossible landscapes inside Paracas National Reserve — terrain that the Peruvian tern has mastered.

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