New chicks a lifeline
One of New Zealand’s rarest birds, the tara iti / New Zealand fairy tern, has had a successful summer breeding season, with seven chicks expected to fledge.
With fewer than 40 adult birds, the tara iti is critically endangered, and despite intensive management has teetered on the brink of extinction since the 1970s.
“Seven chicks is a great season. Last year (2018-2019) we only had two chicks fledge, so this is a big improvement, but more of what we would hope to call an average season,” DoC biodiversity Ranger Ayla Wiles said.
“The settled weather during the season resulted in fewer nest losses than last season, and overall the birds finished laying earlier. The major challenges this year have been the loss of at least one of the parents of two chicks at Te Arai, and the subsequent loss of one of those chicks, the loss of a fertile egg to a rat at Waipu¯, and the desertion of a chick by its parents halfway through the dependency period at Mangawhai.
“We have also had higher incidences of compliance issues causing disturbance to the birds. Common problems have been dogs in DoC-administered reserves and wildlife refuges, and Auckland Council land, where they are not allowed by law, horses in areas they shouldn’t be, vehicles, drones, low-flying paragliders, jet skis, fizz boats and aircraft causing disturbance, as well as small fires threatening the nest sites.
“These causes of disturbance are common to most of our shorebirds, not just the tara iti.”
The birds nested on shell and sand banks above the high tide line, which left them vulnerable to predators, disturbance by people, vehicles and dogs, she added.
A dedicated team of six fairy tern DoC rangers and numerous community volunteers had been busy since September, however, trapping for predators near nesting sites, fencing off nesting sites and preventing nesting birds from being disturbed by humans. Those protective measures were about to come to a end.
Once widespread around the North Island and eastern South Island, the tara iti now breeds at only four main nesting sites, at Papakanui Spit, Pakiri Beach, and the Waipu¯ and Mangawhai sandspits, with a fifth site at Te Arai this year.
Ms Wiles said DoC worked closely with Patuharakeke, Nga¯ti Wha¯tua o Kaipara, Nga¯ti Manuhiri and Te Uri o Hau, the Shorebirds Trust, the NZ Fairy Tern Charitable Trust, About Tern, Birds NZ, and the Waipu¯ About Tern Trappers to help protect the species.
Support this season had also come from Biomarine, the New Zealand Defence Force, Pakiri Beach Holiday Park, Tara Iti golf course, iwi and land owners at Pakiri, the Auckland Council, Armourguard and Auckland Zoo.