Fair turn for the Fairy Tern

 

- By Julia Wade

The survival rate of one of New Zealand’s rarest and most critically endangered birds has been given an extra protective hand in the form of children’s artistic talent.

After learning about the precarious life of New Zealand’s fairy tern from members of the NZ Fairy Tern Charitable Trust (NZFTCT) and Department of Conservation (DOC), ranger Keven Drew and Mangawhai Beach School (MBS) Year 3 students created posters advising people to take special care when visiting the pocket-sized bird’s environment.

The artwork has been displayed around Mangawhai shops as well as the museum, and six posters have been made into official signs, now staked into the sands of Mangawhai Sandspit Wildlife Refuge, DOC Ranger Drew says. “So the visiting public over the school holidays will be able to see what a great job the students have done and will become aware of just how special the Wildlife Refuge is,” he says. “I was very impressed with how well the children listened and behaved, they really absorbed the information offered, which is very obvious by the sterling job they did of their posters. To the kids I would like to say a big thank you, the posters will make your teachers proud and you can feel very proud of yourselves for doing such a good job.”

Fairy terns breed only at Mangawhai, Waipu, Te Arai, Pakiri and Papakanui Spit on the Kaipara. Due to their diminutive size, with adult’s measuring a mere 250mm and a harsh breeding environment among the sand dunes, battling tides, winds and predators as well as human interference, the bird's population lingers around 40. NZFTCT volunteer coordinator Jane Vaughan says it is up to the community to help look after the rare breed.

“They are small and hard to spot… chicks are a tiny ball of fluff about as big as a bumble bee... sometimes you can see them hovering like a little helicopter before making a shallow dive for tiny fish,” she says. Keeping dogs away from the spit and allowing no drones in the airspace will protect the terns as well as other birds such as NZ dotterels, oyster catchers, red bill gulls and Caspian terns who habitat the Wildlife Refuge Vaughan says.

“People can also help by keeping away from taped areas erected on the sandspit to protect the nests which are so well camouflaged the birds and eggs can get trodden on,” she says. “Just please give the terns some room.”