Weasel thought to have wiped out dotterel chicks

Friday, 10 August 2018

It's as vulnerable as the great spotted kiwi, but gets nowhere near the same attention.

Volunteers hope the trapping of a weasel might reverse the fortunes of a small dotterel colony on Wellington Harbour.

The predator was caught near the Eastbourne foreshore colony in Lower Hutt where none of the banded dotterel chicks reached adulthood during the 2017-2018 breeding season.

Mainland Island Restoration Operation (MIRO) volunteers noticed chicks disappearing from the colony which consisted of only five breeding pairs and a lone male this year and surmised that it had to be the work of a mustalid, the family of animals that includes stoats, weasels and ferrets.

Banded dotterels carry the same nationally vulnerable conservation status at the great spotted kiwi and whio, or blue duck.

'We didn't think it was a cat because with a cat you might lose one or two [chicks]', said MIRO committee member Parker Jones.

**READ MORE:

A weasel is thought to have wiped out all the dotterel chicks at an Eastbourne colony over the 2017-2018 breeding season (FILE PHOTO).

* Did you know the banded dotterel is as vulnerable as the great spotted kiwi?

* Threatened NZ dotterel habitat destroyed by storm, and birds killed by dog

Dotterels lay their eggs on the beach. They are often eaten by hedgehogs or seagulls.

* Fears rare native falcon could kill every dotterel on Eastbourne beach

* The tiny dotterel's terrible year**

Parker Jones has been working with the Mainland Island Restoration Operation to protect banded dotterels on the Eastbourne foreshore for the past three years.

He was hopeful it had been a lone weasel preying on the chicks and its removal would lead to higher survival rates this coming season.

The weasel was caught in a trap monitored by MIROs Educating Residents About Trapping (ERAT) programme.

MIRO identified 11 nests at the Eastbourne colony last season with all five pairs constructing at least one more nest after abandoning their first. Although eggs were laid in the first lot of nests it was unclear why the birds abandoned them.

A report published by Wildlife Management International on the dotterel colonies on the Eastbourne foreshore and nearby Parangarahu Lakes showed hatching rates at Eastbourne were 41.6 per cent and 57.3 per cent at the other colony during the 2017-18 season.

Jones said these numbers were pleasing because they showed management strategies for the dotterels – which carry the same nationally vulnerable conservation status at the great spotted kiwi and whio – were working.

He said it appeared trapping and fencing operations at both colonies, and shooting at Parangarahu Lakes where there are 11 identified nests and as many breeding pairs, had made a big difference in hatching numbers.

About 30 volunteers carrying out trapping, monitoring and banding are involved in the Eastbourne and Parangarahu Lakes programme.