Historically, the South Island of the Hampton Roads Bridge Tunnel (HRBT) supported the single largest seabird colony in Virginia. At peak breeding season, the Virginia Department of Wildlife Resources (DWR) estimated that 15,000 adult birds and 10,000 chicks were present on South Island each year. This manmade Island is the location of the South tunnel portal of the busy HRBT, which crosses the James River in the City of Hampton, Virginia. Despite its proximity to fast-moving cars and trucks, the South Island regularly attracted a variety of birds, including state-threatened species.

Given its ecological significance, it’s no wonder that when the Virginia Department of Transportation (VDOT) kicked off the expansion of the HRBT— the largest construction project in its history—that seabird populations were an area of priority. What would happen to the birds with construction disruptions? Where would they go once work began on South Island and nearby?

As the project enters its fourth year of construction, Anna Weaver, VHB’s Avian Scientist, has led a team of scientists to perform bird monitoring and bird rescuing. She remains on-call 24/7 to ultimately keep birds safe from harm’s way. This is Anna’s story.

Bird Watching

Beginning in 2020, every morning and evening throughout the breeding season, I have spent my time with the birds on HRBT. Throughout each spring and summer, I document all the birds I see on the HRBT, where they are, and what they are doing. While on South Island, I am in the company of Virginia’s royal terns, sandwich terns, common terns, black skimmers, state-threatened gull-billed terns, and laughing gulls, all of which are on the state’s list of species in “greatest conservation need.” The sheer numbers of these species and the diversity of other species that I have observed and photographed has been truly incredible, as well as biologically significant.

Before my team began the first year of seasonal bird monitoring on South Island in March 2020, the Hampton Roads Connector Partners (HRCP) coordinated with VDOT and DWR to develop the Nesting Bird Management and Control Plan (Bird Management Plan) to outline measurers that would reduce the chances of birds nesting or roosting in construction areas. This included the installation of passive deterrents to keep birds from landing on the island, such as spikes and wire mesh, and active measures accomplished through the safe deterrence of birds by trained dogs from Flyaway Geese. In addition, if birds nested on the construction site, there were protocols outlined for handling nest, eggs, and young chicks. In early 2020, Governor Ralph Northam also released plans to protect migratory birds in Virginia, including the nesting seabirds on South Island. This led DWR to create an alternative nesting habitat for colonial nesting birds on the nearby Fort Wool, an unoccupied historical island with the remains of a fort from the early 1800s, designed to mimic the birds’ historical nesting habitat on South Island. With this new habitat and deterrence measures, returning seabirds should easily find a new place to nest out of danger and away from construction areas.

When the birds began to arrive during the first year of seasonal bird monitoring there were a lot of questions. Would the deterrence measures work? Would it be enough to safely relocate the birds successfully? Initially we observed some noticeable confusion and behavior from the birds. This was not unexpected; their home for more than 40 years suddenly looked very different. However, it didn’t take long before the colonial nesting species became comfortable using the new habitat instead of South Island and began to flock to the new areas. These combined efforts encouraged the return of colonial nesting birds to use the new habitat! Since the beginning, we have observed thousands of birds nesting and breeding on the nearby barges and Fort Wool instead of on the construction areas where their habitat once existed. This successful collaborative effort provided us with an understanding of the necessary work that we’ve conducted year after year.

Observation throughout Construction

Walking around a construction site for a bird survey is a truly unique experience. Before I begin a survey, I put on my safety gear, including a hard hat, safety vest, steel-toed boots, and safety glasses. Equipped with a notebook, binoculars, and camera, I then begin my walking path around the construction site. Navigating a construction site can be challenging on its own, but it only gets more complex when I am also recording all the birds I see. Over the last three years, this paved island has become a busy site with a lot of moving parts. I am regularly checking my surroundings for trip hazards, construction equipment, and cranes regularly moving objects overhead. Some days I even see the peregrine falcon landing on stationary equipment with its most recent prey. Each day, I monitor birds on the HRBT with the objective to observe and record their patterns and behavior, conducting area searches to see how they are using the Island. I also assess the effectiveness of passive deterrent measures installed on the Island that are designed to prevent birds from landing or nesting there. As I make my observations, I must also confirm compliance with state and federal guidelines designed to protect migratory seabirds and other species observed in the area.

After each survey, I record all bird activity observed, including the different kinds of birds, the number of each, and their behavior. I also document which birds are flying overhead, landing on the Island, or floating in the water within 50 feet of the shoreline. This information helps us understand which birds are interacting with South Island and how they are using it, now that it is no longer available for nesting. Each week, the results of these surveys are reported to VDOT and DWR. We provide a record of the species, abundance, behavior, and patterns of birds on or near these construction sites, and we use this data to better understand how birds are responding to construction activities and deterrence measures. To continue to collect this critical data, I worked with VDOT and DWR to develop a standardized data collection and monitoring protocol, and I lead the coordination and scheduling of daily survey efforts.

Bird Incident Hotline

Our team is on-call 24/7, which means we are literally a bird incident hotline for the project. One thing I’ve learned throughout this experience is that birds are not at all predictable; when an incident occurs, we go into each situation ready to tackle any challenge. We have gotten calls about injured birds blown in from storms, sick birds that land on the Island to recover, or birds tangled in fishing lines. We are also on-call to safely move fledglings away from active construction so that they can rest on the rocks near the water, where they are safely out of harm’s way, before regaining their strength to fly.

In my time on this project, I have responded to several sick and injured birds that needed to be taken to a licensed wildlife rehabilitator for care immediately. I once transported a common tern that was suffering from a concussion, most likely from running headfirst into a rock while fishing. After a few days in the care of the rehabilitator, this bird was ready to be released back into the wild. I was able to assist in its release, which was an amazing experience. Another memorable bird mission was at the end of 2020, when I was called onto the construction site to transport a double-crested cormorant that had swallowed a fishing line. This bird was incredibly feisty, trying to bite anything, or anyone, it could reach. It was clear from the extent of the fishing line hanging from its mouth that it needed immediate care. After safely capturing the bird using a dip net, thick handling gloves, and a DWR-approved pet carrier, I was able to contain the cormorant and transport it to the rehabilitator.

Thankfully, we have a great partnership with a few local wildlife rehabilitators and regularly work with the Tidewater Rehabilitation and Environmental Education Center. Since the end of 2020, they have taken in the majority of the injured and sick birds we have transported. The wildlife rehabilitator at this Center provides life-saving care to the birds we bring in. Many can eventually be released back into the wild, into safer spaces than the project area.

A Future for the Birds

When the project first began, we monitored birds on South Island, the site of the former seabird nesting colony. This work has since expanded to also cover North Island, another manmade island on HRBT, and Willoughby Spit, a peninsula on the Norfolk side of the bridge-tunnel. Both locations are part of the HRBT project footprint. They were added to the daily monitoring protocol because bird activity and project construction increased in these areas. Our team has also expanded since we began, including assistance from my colleagues Tim Davis, Sara McMahen, and Casey McLaughlin. The members of this team help conduct bird monitoring surveys and reporting and share the on-call duties.

The HRBT Expansion Project will continue over the next few years, and the ongoing bird monitoring effort continues to be a priority for VDOT, DWR, and VHB. DWR is also working through the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) process to develop long-term, permanent solutions for the safe relocation of these bird colonies, something we should all be excited about. There are a lot of us behind the scenes working to make certain that this important infrastructure project is not only beneficial to the commuters and community that use the HRBT, but also to the birds that flock to that area. So far, it seems that although this project might relieve some of the vehicle traffic in the area, fortunately, bird traffic into the area is still busy, and safe.

Learn more about VHB’s environmental services, or reach out to me for more information by emailing me or connecting on LinkedIn.