Audubon California and our partners on the Migratory Bird Conservation Partnership are out in the field surveying nesting success in rice fields and natural wetlands in the Central Valley. The goal is to compare nesting success in rice fields versus natural wetlands, and also rice fields where owners are managing to help birds versus those that aren't. We're learning a lot. In the video below, Monica Iglecia, Audubon California's shorebird conservation biologist, is standing over a Black Tern nest in a rice field. It's hard to hear her because the Black Tern parents are a little angry that she's there. Photos below the fold:

Monica testing Black-neck Stilt eggs:

A Black-neck Stilt nest in a rice field:

(photos and video by Rodd Kelsey)