This one's for the birds: Florida Audubon asks July 4 beachgoers to leave the fireworks at home

Last year, the high-pitched calls of least terns filled the air around the dunes at the southern end of Norriego Point.

This year, as the Fourth of July holiday approaches, a much smaller, though still vocal, group of about 50 is nesting in the area, trying to feed and defend their young until they're old enough to fend for themselves.

Many birds are re-nesting, including on Pensacola Beach, and this will be their final opportunity to successfully raise young this season, a news release from Audubon Florida said.

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Pensacola Beach provides nesting habitat for several species of ground nesting, migratory shorebirds during the spring and summer — including least terns, snowy plovers, Wilson’s plovers and black skimmers. Least terns are migrating from as far away as Central and South America to raise their young on our beaches.

The majority of the shorebirds that nest along Pensacola Beach are snowy plovers and least terns. Their tiny eggs and chicks, the size of cotton balls, are so camouflaged they are almost imperceptible to the human eye.

Within the national seashore, park employees have worked to protect nesting areas and separate the birds from the people by roping off areas where the birds are known to nest.

Caroline Stahala, the Panhandle project manager for Audubon, works with volunteers to mark off the area where the terns are nesting to prevent people from wandering into those places and trampling nearly invisible eggs or equally hard to see chicks.

"It may not look like there are nests, but we do have nests," Stahala said on a recent visit to Destin, even as a group of terns — whose call Stahala likens to a squeaky dog toy — took flight to chase off a gull that had infringed upon their turf.

But with Independence Day comes a new threat: beachgoers shooting off fireworks near the nesting sites.

"Although beachside fireworks shows are entertaining to people, the bursts of color and noise wreak havoc on coastal birds — especially for nesting species," the Audubon news release said. "After each fireworks explosion, birds panic and fly from their nests, scattering the chicks and exposing them to predators and heat until their parents return."

Fireworks not only threaten the seabirds that nest locally, like the least terns and black skimmers raising young on the Navarre Bridge causeway, but also shorebirds such as snowy plovers and great blue herons. Litter left behind can also pose a danger to sea turtles and other marine life.

"Debris left from the fireworks litter our beaches and near-shore waters and can be easily mistaken for food," the release said. "Hungry chicks nibble on plastic refuse, even ingesting some of the smallest pieces."

Stahala recommends, for the sake of the birds, that locals and visitors to the area confine their July 4 revelry to taking in the fireworks shows put on by local municipalities across the region.

​Human traffic alone can pose a threat to the nesting sea birds. Vehicles, kites, off-leash dogs and wandering beachgoers can all do extreme damage to nesting sites.

Stahala said just about anywhere in Northwest Florida where open beach exists there is likely to be seabird and shorebird nesting.

Stahala said well-meaning but ill-advised visitors to Navarre Beach have been seen throwing starchy food like crackers or popcorn to the black skimmers nesting next to the road.

Skimmers and terns survive entirely on fish, and the only thing throwing popcorn their way is going to do is lure gulls to the area, and the omnivorous birds won't hesitate to make a meal of a skimmer chick or egg.

"Don't feed the birds; just enjoy them," Stahala said.

Audubon Florida’s bird stewards will be out in full force at locations across the state where people and beach-nesting birds comingle, the organization's news release said.

"These important ambassadors for nature help coastal visitors learn about the birds to better understand what is happening inside posted areas," it said.

This article originally appeared on Pensacola News Journal: Pensacola Beach July 4th fireworks: Audubon says leave them home