New Zealand Fairy Tern - Threats and Conservation
'Exposed'
Title: Exposed
Image size: 405x315mm
Original Availability: For Sale
Giclee Prints Available: Yes
Image size: 405x315mm
Original Availability: For Sale
Giclee Prints Available: Yes
'Exposed' depicts the New Zealand Fairy Tern and the vulnerable nature of its nests. There are only about 45 individual fairy terns left in New Zealand, which includes only 12 breeding pairs. It is now confined to the lower half of Northland.
New Zealand fairy terns construct their nests on exposed, low-lying areas of shell-covered sand. The nest is a simple scrape in the sand. The exposed nature of these nests is one of the main reason for their decline, being open to introduced predators such as rats, dogs, cats, hedgehogs and pests, such as humans. The nests are also vulnerable to being washed away by high tides, floods and storms. Beach activities can disturb nests and scare birds away from their nests, leaving the embryos to die from exposure. The birds decline also results from the depletion of their sand dune habitat caused by residential development, the planting of pine plantations and pastoral farming.
The New Zealand Fairy Tern Charitable Trust works to conserve this critically threatened endemic bird.
New Zealand fairy terns construct their nests on exposed, low-lying areas of shell-covered sand. The nest is a simple scrape in the sand. The exposed nature of these nests is one of the main reason for their decline, being open to introduced predators such as rats, dogs, cats, hedgehogs and pests, such as humans. The nests are also vulnerable to being washed away by high tides, floods and storms. Beach activities can disturb nests and scare birds away from their nests, leaving the embryos to die from exposure. The birds decline also results from the depletion of their sand dune habitat caused by residential development, the planting of pine plantations and pastoral farming.
The New Zealand Fairy Tern Charitable Trust works to conserve this critically threatened endemic bird.