Lake Bant tern colony

The Lake Bant tern colony is a breeding colony of common terns (Sterna hirundo) at Lake Bant (Banter See in German) in the port city of Wilhelmshaven, north-western Germany.

The colony breeds on six concrete islands, which were originally used as a loading dock for the now abandoned U-boat harbour at Banter See.

[4][5] An automatic antenna recording system identifies individual terns when they return to the breeding site each season, without birds having to be trapped.

These life histories provide important information on the population ecology of long-lived birds.

[8] Despite senescence, birds that reach very old age have the highest life-time reproductive success.