Tern ID Study with Scopes at Nickerson Beach

Date: Thursday, June 4, 2026

Leader(s): Patricia Lindsay and Shai Mitra
Transportation: Carpool Trip: While carpool rides for everyone usually work out, there is no guarantee of enough volunteer drivers to accommodate all participants. The Registrar will work to organize rides and to notify participants when a rental car may be necessary. Registrar will also inform participants of the carpool fee, which is based on the trip location; the cost of any rental cars should be split evenly by those participants.
Meeting Point: After your registration is confirmed, the Registrar will share directions, the exact meeting place, and time with attendees.
Schedule: This trip starts early and will likely end in the early afternoon.
Relative Difficulty: There will be a lot of walking on sandy beaches with long periods of standing in place to study the terns. It will be hot with no shade from the sun.

Trip Description: This trip will focus on studying the terns (primary focus on Common Terns) that nest and visit Nickerson Beach. Nickerson Beach is a unique area, partly designated to protect bird species that are threatened and even endangered, with portions cordoned off for nesting Common Terns, Least Terns, and Piping Plovers.

Access to food and shelter is equally attractive to other avian species, such as local Eastern Willets, Gull-billed Terns, and other migrant terns and shorebirds. We will also be watching for shearwaters and whales on the ocean—on a previous trip, the extremely rare and endangered North Atlantic Right Whale gave us quite a show.

A spotting scope or high-zoom camera is highly recommended because the primary intention of the trip is for each participant to study the terns.

Please read The Linnaean Society of New York COVID-19 Field Trip Guidelines before registering.

Registration: Registration opens at 9 am on Monday, May 25. After that time, click here to register. Registration closes at 6 pm on Monday, June 1. Members (and those who have applied for membership) will be prioritized over non-members.

Please read the About Our Trips page, if you’re going on a field trip for the first time. It details our field trip policies, recommends what to bring on a trip, and offers other useful information, pro tips, and tricks.

If after visiting the About Our Trips page, you still have questions, feel free to contact the Registrar via email.