Queenstowners are being urged to be extra-vigilant around the Shotover River beaches to avoid crushing camouflaged eggs of native, nesting birds.
Four species are returning to breed, as they do every year, to the Whakatipu’s braided river, where most of them will stay up to six months.
Three of the species — the banded dotterel, black-billed gulls, and South Island pied oystercatchers (SIPO) — are classified ‘at risk and declining’, while the black-fronted terns are ‘endangered’.
‘‘There are only about 1000 to 5000 mature individuals estimated in the whole population of terns,’’ local ecologist Dawn Palmer says.
When the birds are not in the Basin, they’re inhabiting coastal environments.
Palmer says some banded dotterels have been tagged as far away as Victoria, Australia.
The banded dotterel is the only one out of the four species yet to be sighted, meaning they may not have arrived, but Palmer says
they’re due ‘‘any minute’’.
‘‘The dotterels are very territorial … right now with the dotterels, time is spent feeding to recover from their migratory flight, finding their mate, finding their territory [and] defending a new territory if they have to shift.
‘‘The males will build the nest and the female will inspect the nest and she may reject many nests … and then they’ll settle down and raise three chicks … in a perfect world,’’ Palmer says.
SIPOs are also territorial while terns and gulls are ‘‘colony nesters’’ — the former will also swoop over anyone who comes too close.
She says the busiest spots for breeding will likely be in the Lower Shotover.
‘‘They’re found on Big Beach, they’re found on the recreation reserve, Tucker Beach, more particularly on the left-hand side of the river there,’’ Palmer says.
‘‘And then in the Tucker Beach Wildlife Management Reserve, they’re nesting on both sides of the river.’’
Palmer says nesting signs have been erected this week in key areas.
‘‘If you’re seeing some of those bird-nesting signs, don’t allow your dog to roam off-lead through those areas.
‘‘If you see any sign that the birds are calling or flying up off the gravels, leave the area because you’re pulling them off their nests and their eggs can get cold, they can get hot, they can become vulnerable to predation or the dogs trample them because they’re very cryptic,’’ Palmer says.
People should retrace their footsteps if they come across a nest, so as not to crush any eggs while leaving the area.
