July 2019

In this breeding season 2019 the Natural Process Monitoring Team has verified the successful reproduction of the common tern (Sterna hirundo) in the Doñana Natural Space sector belonging to Cádiz, where its presence was already detected in the two previous reproductive periods. In 2017 a couple was detected incubating, but subsequently disappeared, and in 2018 a couple was seen again, who came to lay 2 eggs, but also failed. This season 2019, although two chickens were observed, it has only been possible to confirm that one of them flew.

The last reproduction verified in Doñana was in 1986, specifically in the “Lucio del Cangrejo Grande”, where they also tried to breed two couples in 1987, in both years in a large colony of Gull-billed tern (Gelochelidon nilotica). It is therefore good news that more than 30 years later this species, which is usually scarce as a wintering and migratory bird, has successfully nested again in Doñana.