2019/2020 Breeding Season

The 2019/2020 Breeding Season was a success for New Zealand’s most critically threatened birds, tara iti (NZ fairy tern) with seven chicks fully fledging (leaving the nesting area)!

“Seven chicks is a great season! Last year (2018-2019 season) we only had two chicks fledge, so this is a big improvement, but more of what we would hope to call an average season,” says DOC Biodiversity Ranger Ayla Wiles. “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 half way through the dependency period at Mangawhai.”

Courtship display. Photo by Nicolas Dillon.

Many thanks to Tara Iti Golf Club for storing and servicing utility vehicles for DOC wardens and trapper, and providing free accommodation for DOC rangers for several months during the breeding season. Also, thanks to all volunteers including a special thanks to Tara Iti rangers Alex Flavell-Johnson and Rob Channing for assisting DOC rangers in supplementary feeding and monitoring of the (parent-less) tara iti chicks at Te Arai!