LONG BEACH, Calif., June 17 A tour boat captain worked in tandem with lifeguards to save a federally protected baby seabird from drowning in a California harbor.Dan Salas radioed lifeguards from his boat Saturday when he saw the baby Caspian tern floundering in swells beside a barge anchored a half-mile out in Long Beach Harbor.The lifeguards arrived three minutes later in a patrol boat to scoop the baby tern to safety amid applause from the 20 tourists aboard Salas' 80-foot vessel, Kristina, the Los Angeles Times reported.The tiny tern was taken to a bird rescue center, while back on the barge a colony of Caspian terns tended chicks nestled in mounds of coiled rope. The barge, a former icebreaker named Arctic Challenger, has become a nesting site for about 350 Caspian terns, which are protected by the federal Migratory Bird Treaty Act.The barge's owner has agreed not to move it until all the birds have migrated for the winter. Nonetheless, the colony still faces freighters, cruise ships, recreational boaters and personal watercraft in the busy harbor.Copyright 2007 by UPI
