Give tern exhibit a turn

 

BY JULIA WADE

One of New Zealand’s most endangered native birds has been given a special exhibition to highlight the creature’s plight. 

Sponsored by Bennetts Chocolates and Forest & Bird, Mangawhai Museum invited members and special guests to take a sneak peak at ‘Survival of the New Zealand Fairy Tern’ exhibit a day before its official opening on December 2. 

Through a variety of visual and auditory media, the exhibit offers an historic account of the birds struggle to survive against a range of predators, the development of the New Zealand Fairy Tern Trust and the ongoing work of the organisations dedicated volunteers. An update of current rescue efforts to ensure the terns survival is also included, with Forest & Bird’s work to create a new Kaipara Harbour breeding site, Bird Island, as well as the creation and use of fairy tern look-a-like decoys to encourage habituation. 

An all-weather ‘hideaway’, which is placed in strategic positions amid sand dunes to allow volunteers discrete observations of the terns for many hours at a time, demonstrates people’s devotion to the birds, and videos and bird song allow visitors a glimpse of the tern’s lifestyle, bringing the exhibit to life. 

‘Survival of the New Zealand Fairy Tern’ is open at Mangawhai Museum until early July. 

An interested visitor takes time to read about the ongoing activity to save the endangered NZ fairy tern and efforts to raise their slim population numbers up from the current recorded number of 45. - PHOTO/Supplied