David
Williams of Newsroom.co.nz08:55, Jan 16 2019
Concerns
over the fairy tern have prompted the Department of Conservation to
re-establish a specific recovery group.
This
story was originally published on Newsroom.co.nz and is
republished with permission.
A
disastrous breeding season has plunged one of the world's rarest birds even
deeper into crisis.
The
critically endangered fairy tern/tara iti, the country's rarest native bird
species with fewer than 40 individuals, has had only three chicks hatch this
season.
New
Zealand Fairy Tern Charitable Trust convenor Heather Rogan says one chick has
gone missing, which could make this the worst breeding season in at least 27
years.
The
Department of Conservation maintained on Monday that all three chicks were
alive and well. If that's the case and they all fledge, this would still be the
worst season since 1996-7, the last time three chicks fledged.
More
worrying than the lack of chicks, Rogan says, is that breeding pairs have been
decimated. She estimates there are only five pairs left across breeding sites
on beaches north of Auckland – when over the last decade there have been
between eight and 10 pairs.
She
describes the season as "disastrous". "I would say that this is
a crisis year."
Melanie
Scott, who lives near Mangawhai and is a member of the group Save Te Arai,
says: "We're on the verge of losing this bird."
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