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.

A fairy tern getting in to the Christmas spirit

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