Success for Fairy Tern at Kaipara Harbour (click here)
Wednesday, 10 January 2007, 4:08 pm
Press Release: Department of Conservation
Media Release 10 January 2007
Success for Fairy Tern at Kaipara Harbour for the first time in five years
One of New Zealand's rarest birds, the New Zealand fairy tern, has been boosted by a chick successfully fledging at Papakanui Spit on the Kaipara Harbour, for the first time in five years....
Conservation of the endangered New Zealand fairy tern (click here)
S.M. Ferreiraa, 1, K.M. Hansenb,
, G.R. Parrishb, R.J. Pierceb, 2, G.A. Pulhamc and S. Taylora, 3
aAuckland Conservancy, Department of Conservation, PO Box 68908, Newton, Auckland, New Zealand
bNorthland Conservancy, Department of Conservation, PO Box 842, Whangarei, New Zealand
cUnit 2, 1 Parkhill Road, Birkenhead, Auckland, New Zealand
Received 30 May 2004.
Available online 31 May 2005.
Abstract
The New Zealand fairy tern Sterna nereis davisae has only one small population of c.30 individuals and its conservation is a priority. The population was declining prior to the mid 1980s. Management of the three remaining breeding sites was initiated during 1983/84 and intensified from 1991 onwards. We have collated historic data and reviewed the changes in the population since 1991. Our results illustrate that the number of chicks fledged increased since 1991. Fifty-five chicks fledged between 1991/92 and 2002/03. Demographic modelling based on productivity and age-specific survival estimates predicted that the population should increase at c.1.5% per annum. The predicted results from the demographic model contrasted against the observation of a stable resident population. This difference could have resulted from the movement of individuals out of our study area. Demographic modelling also indicated that the population may have continued to decline at a rate of c.1.4% per annum if management was not initiated. Extinction risk within 50 years has decreased from 0.52 to 0.39.
