Between the predators, the tourists, and the long migration ahead life is a challenge for the roseate tern, especially during the first summer of life.
Screenings
Environmental Film Festival in the Nation’s Capital (March 2018)
Refuge System Birthday Bash at the National Wildlife Visitor Center (March 2018)
SENE Film Music and Art Festival (April 2018)
Brooklyn Bird Club (July 17, 2018)
Science on the Seashore Symposium (September 2018)
Great Lakes Environmental Film Festival (November 2018)
Connecticut Ornithological Association (March 2019)
2021 Northeast Natural History Conference (April 2021)
**Audience award for best documentary**
Awards
Spotlight Short Film Awards Gold Award (June 2018)
Cinema WorldFest Awards (June 2018)
The Impact DOCS Awards Award of Merit (July 2018)
Oregon International Film Awards Gold Award (November 2018)
California Film Awards Silver Award (December 2018)
Info
A new wild life documentary about the roseate tern. Unlike the common tern, which are indeed common, roseates have been on the endangered species list since 1987. This has led to decades of research. Here’s what we know: among breeding adults the mortality rate is almost constant. With a few exceptions, at the major nesting sites the birth rates also have remained more or less consistently high. And yet the population is declining. Somewhere between hatching and returning to breed three years later, the terns are dying in disproportionate numbers. This documentary will follow the first summer of life for a cohort of terns as they prepare for their first long migration from the coast of Massachusetts to the to the beaches of Brazil.
Film Stills
Roseate terns on the beach
Adults feeding a chick
Scientist reading tag numbers on banded terns
Adult and Young roseates on the beach
Director’s Statement
Every story of an endangered species is at once a local story and a universal story. By definition they are not found in many places, but the problems they face are often not unique. The more people get out into nature the more they will appreciate and wish to protect it. There will always be more going on than we will be able to see, but that’s ok as long as we learn to tread carefully.
Film Poster
Heron Media Films 