Rooftop Nesting

The Marathon building in the Keys, which houses the staff offices for the Florida Keys Aquatic Preserves and Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary programs, experienced a notable rooftop nesting season this year. The South Florida seabird nesting season runs from April 1 to August 31, and these rooftops have hosted nesting seabirds for several years. Over the past couple of months, staff observed seabirds “flushing” off the rooftops from the ground below. The species that potentially use these rooftops include Least Terns, Black Skimmers, and Roseate Terns, all of which are state and federally protected. During the season, staff were lucky to meet with Ricardo Zambrano, a regional biologist, and his coworker from the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC). They demonstrated how they monitor the site and place tags on birds. All wildlife handling was conducted under an official FWC permit, allowing the staff the opportunity to observe some of the season’s final Least Tern eggs and chicks on the gravel rooftops of their workplace.