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Decoys Attract Endangered Birds To Skimmer Island

OCEAN CITY, Md. (AP) -- Decoys and speakers playing bird calls on Ocean City's Skimmers Island are attracting endangered shore birds to the nesting site.

Roman Jesien, science coordinator for the Maryland Coastal Bays Program, says an automatic camera placed on the island near the Route 50 bridge shows a royal tern standing over an egg. The island is used for nesting by black skimmers and royal terns, which are both on the state's endangered species list.

The decoys and speakers are the latest in a series of efforts to attract birds and conserve the nesting area. The 2 1/2-acre island had shrunk to about a third of its former size before sand dredged from the bay bottom near the entrance of a West Ocean City marina was placed on the island this spring.

(Copyright 2012 by The Associated Press.  All Rights Reserved.)

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