A tern for the better

Good news out of Southern California:

They were cold, wet and hungry when wildlife experts carried them into the International Bird Rescue Research Center in June, not far from where they were discovered among scores of dead birds that washed ashore in Long Beach.

On Monday, after six weeks of feeding and exercise at the facility in San Pedro, the nine surviving terns, now plump with feathers, took flight after their release at Cabrillo Beach.

The state Department of Fish and Game continues to investigate the cause behind the Elegant and Caspian Terns' deaths, and rehabilitators banded and marked the nine juvenile Elegant Terns with fluorescent green dye to track them. Twelve Caspian Terns also will be released this week.