PORTLAND (AP) – A colony of least terns has moved from a Scarborough beach where crows were stealing their eggs to a nearby island, a move that shows the birds are able to adapt to threatening conditions, wildlife biologists said.

The colony in late June established a dozen nests on Stratton Island, a wildlife refuge 1 miles off Scarborough that is owned by the National Audubon Society. The least terns, the smallest of the tern and gull family, moved to the island from Higgins Beach, where crows had preyed on their eggs.

The 35-acre island gives the birds a favorable spot to add to their small population in Maine, where there are only about 100 breeding pairs.

Along the East Coast, least terns usually nest in summer on sandy spits at the mouths of estuaries.

They have been known to nest on islands on occasion, but never before in Maine, the northern end of their range, said Jody Jones, a wildlife ecologist with the Maine Audubon Society.

Least terns that nest in coastal regions are not endangered under federal law. But they are considered endangered in Maine, where Jones said they are threatened by habitat destruction, dogs and natural predators. Vandals last year ripped protective stakes and twine from a nesting site on Wells Beach.

“They are definitely in trouble in Maine,” Jones said.

Although Stratton Island has a limited amount of sandy beach, the birds’ preferred nesting habitat, it has other benefits. Audubon restricts human visitors to the wildlife refuge, and a large population of common terns vigorously defends the site from natural predators.

“Crows are never really a problem,” said Robby Lambert, an intern with the National Audubon Society who is living on Stratton Island for the summer. “(The terns) couldn’t have picked a better place to nest.”

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