3.3 Birds
endangered (interior population) species and threatened (Atlantic Coast population) spe- cies. Piping plover is well monitored and studied, and its population trend is stabilized, but not meeting recovery goals (USFWS 2011a) .
Colonial Waterbirds Wading birds often nest in multispecies colonies in trees and shrubs, referred to as rook- eries (or heronries), and terns, pelicans, gulls, and skimmers nest on the ground in colo- nies. Since the mid-1970s, multistate surveys have been conducted to collect information on colonial waterbird nesting sites (Hunter et al. 2006) , and in North Carolina, every 2 to 3 years, surveys are conducted to collect data on the location and status of existing colonies and document new colonies. Ground surveys of colonial waterbirds have also been con- ducted in North Carolina every two to three years since the late 1970s (Wilson and Henson 1993) . Colonial waterbirds nest on North Carolina’s barrier islands, dredged-material islands, and marsh islands in estuaries. Aerial surveys of inland heronries are conducted every 10 years within select portions of river basins located in Coastal Plain and Piedmont regions. Aerial surveys of Wood Stork colonies and potential sites have been conducted annually since 2005. Wood Storks nesting in North Carolina are the most northern nesting popula- tion in the United States. Tis northward expansion and their adaptability have led to their being down-listed by USFWS from endangered to threatened in 2014. Data from surveys are stored in the online colonial waterbird database and used to assess population trends, status, and distribution.
Te Snowy Egret, Tricolored Heron, Little Blue Heron, and Glossy Ibis are small wading birds that nest in North Carolina’s coastal region. Population trends of these species indicate a decline in numbers of nesting pairs, and nesting population sizes do not meet the state’s management goals (Shields and Parnell 1990; Kushlan et al. 2002; Hunter et al. 2006) . Te Common Tern and Gull-billed Tern also nest in the coastal region, select- ing nearly bare sandy areas on barrier and dredged-material islands. Numbers of nesting pairs of both species have declined continuously for more than fve years. Te
Snowy Egret (USFWS) http://digitalmedia.fws.gov Used under license CC BY-NC-SA 2
Black Skimmer often nests in or near these tern colonies and, while coast-wide surveys illustrate an increase in skimmer nesting pairs since 2007, their population continues to remain below the state goal.
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2015 NC Wildlife Action Plan
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