Khaki-clad ‘fairy godmothers’ Alice Fairs and Mailee Stanbury have had a very important role this summer – they’re DOC fairy tern wardens.
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How cute is this Christmas fairy tern. Unfortunately they won’t be as easy to spot this summer, given that there’s only 31 of them.
If you’re around Mangawhai, Waipu and the Pakari River, have a read of these suggestions (they also apply to dotterel breeding areas as well):
- Leave the dog at home/don’t take it to the beach, or at least have it on a leash.
- Stay out of taped-off nesting areas, and don’t linger while parent birds are doing distraction displays or appear agitated – while they are preoccupied with you they are not tending to their eggs or chicks.
- Fishermen should bury their scraps to avoid feeding and attracting black-backed gulls.
- Walk below the high tide mark, to avoid standing on nests, which are higher up on the beach.
- Motorbikes and four-wheel drives on beaches are not good for shorebirds, and prohibited in many places anyway.
- Keep away from birds doing dive-bombs cause that means they’re agitated.

Fairy tern eggs playing hide and seek

A fairy tern is banded and released by DOC staff