Thursday, January 11, 2018
BIRDS nesting on Whangako-pikopiko Island are unaware of what’s about to happen to them.
Photos Mike Collins
Sven Carlsson
SHOREBIRDS nesting on Ohiwa Harbour’s Whangakopikopiko Island have taken a massive hit during last week’s storm and rain event.
Convenors of the Ohiwa Reserves Care Group Meg and Mike Collins said the island itself was breached in four places by the storm and the birdlife “wiped out”.
“Traps and bait stations have been lost and the birds have taken a massive hit,” Mrs Collins said.
A colony of about 300 white-fronted terns, the biggest for many years on the island, had disappeared as a result of the storm.
“The eggs and the chicks got wiped out and now the adults have gone also.”
A colony of about 200 red-billed gulls and black-billed gulls located in the same place had also been brutally attacked by the storm.
“Only a few of the red and black-billed gull chicks that were hatched before Christmas survived,” Mrs Collins said.
“When it comes to the New Zealand dotterel, the eggs and the chicks are gone.”
However, the variable oyster catcher had fared much better.
Chicks from the 12 observed nests appeared to all have survived.