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This week I was rewarded with a lifer – a nesting colony of Bridled Terns on San Bernandino Island, an isolated rocky islet in the Pacific, off the coast of Sorsogon, Southern Luzon. The Philippine field guide lists this seabird as a rare resident and was previously recorded only in Apo Reef in Mindoro, Maturin Rocks in Catanduanes, Sulu Sea and in other isolated islands off the coast of Mindanao, Palawan and the Batanes and Babuyan Islands in the northern extremes of the Philippines.

It is a medium-sized tern with long wings and a deeply forked tail. The upperparts are dark brownish grey and the head is black with a distinctive white “V” on the forehead. It is mostly a pelagic species but returns to rocky islets to roost and to nest. Eggs are scattered in the inaccessible cracks on the islets’ sheer cliffs.

Bridled Tern, Sterna anaethetus
July 2011, San Bernandino Island, off Bulusan, Sorsogon, Southern Philippines

Bridled Terns resting

It was an exciting trip, we had to take a 1 1/2 hour boat ride from Sorsogon to reach San Bernandino island. The waves were quite big considering there was no storm and we left early in the morning (when the Pacific Ocean should be relatively calmer). We rode a big, stable motorized outrigger banca designed to fit 30 people (we were only 4 plus the 3 boatmen) because at these times of the year the seas can become rough due to the monsoons. But when we reach the islet, we were rewarded with an awesome sight: a beautiful lighthouse on top of a hill surrounded by rocky cliffs, clear and wonderful reefs supporting a variety of marine life and of course the magnificent colony of seabirds roosting on the island. We were greeted by Eastern Reef Egrets in dark and white phases, then came the Bridled and Black-naped Terns. Our team was able to count around 220 Bridled Terns and 100 Black-naped Terns. Unfortunately, eggs of either the Bridled or the Black-naped Tern, or both, were being collected at the time of our visit from the larger island (with the lighthouse) by one man. Our boatmen reported that eggs are gathered regularly from the island. We reported the incident to the authorities since nesting colonies of this rare species are highly uncommon and this site should be protected at all cost.

San Bernandino Lighthouse “Parola”