MANGAWHAI'S NO.1 NEWSPAPER
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Fairy tern chicks deadBy Rob Pooley
To keep the fairy tern in existence requires extreme dedication from DOC staff and a number of volunteers from both the Mangawhai and Waipu groups. In the Waipu inlet, About Tern volunteers report there is not a lot of Christmas cheer from the Christmas fairies at this time. There was a spillage in the estuary where a pair of fairy tern fish, and both adult fairy terns had bright blue marks on their feathers and fed blue-dyed fish to chicks. NRC were notified but were too late to trace the spill’s cause. The next day the chicks were predated, and the female was not seen. “We are mourning the loss of a pair of two-day old chicks,” says spokeswoman Robyn Davies. Two weeks earlier another pair of two-day old chicks were lost at the site during a sudden change in the direction and intensity of an easterly swell. This pair have re-nested in a safer place. Ms Davies says if chicks hatch, “they are going to be the most cared for chicks on the planet this summer!” |
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