A pair of roseate terns fledges three young with limited human assistance

Hays (1994) reported that a trio of Roseate Terns (Sterna dougallii) raised three fledglings in 1991 at Great Gull Island, New York. Despite the regular occurrence of "supernormal" clutches of three or more eggs (Norton 1988, Hays 1994, Shealer and Zurovchak 1995), we are not aware of any reports of three young being fledged by just two adult Roseate Terns. Here we report a pair that, with limited human assistance given to the initially smallest chick for two weeks, fledged three young in 1994 at Falkner Island off the coast of Connecticut.