Audubon Magazine - Coastal Birds Are Ditching the Beach to Nest on Rooftops
Each summer, conservationists around the country protect birds that nest atop buildings as development and sea-level rise erase natural beach habitat. The sight of coastal birds hatching atop buildings may be incongruous, but it has become common as oceanfront development, beach recreation, and sea-level rise create a crunch in natural habitat.
In New Orleans, Least Tern and Gull-billed Tern colonies nest on storage building and port rooftops surrounded by highways. In Florida, Black Skimmers and American Oystercatchers are among the birds that opt for the high life on grocery store roofs. In New York City, intense development along the Hudson River spur Herring Gulls to colonize a convention center’s vegetated roof in midtown Manhattan.
