I've been back and fourth to Great Gull Island all season. We have plenty of fish(for the second year in a row we have had what seems like and endless supply of Sand Lance right offshore. Now the Terns are also bringing in Butterfish,Bluefish and Menhaden.... I haven't noticed any less Terns. Our problem is thick vegetation this year. The way we would determine what is going on in a failing Tern colony is to set up a Blind close by and watch Day and night for a few days(use night vision) and a good scope. 24 hour round the clock. Remember that after a few seasons of use predators will "discover " the colony. At Gull we lose several terns a day to raptors and gulls. A colony on Long Island with 3000 pairs of Commons was almost totally deserted by the Terns ,some years ago, when a Great Horned Owl started hunting regularly. In a small colony on shore you would also have mammalian predators....cats, rats, mink. Black-Crown Night Herons are often a problem, one bird can take close to 20 Tern young a night..... And then there is the people problem......remember in as few as 15 minutes a newly hatched Tern can die from exposure to heat or cold if adults are kept off the nest by disturbance. Watch the colony around the clock. Matthew Male Chester ,CT Working on Great Gull Island for the last 40 years. Sent from XFINITY Connect Mobile App