Prowling cat decimates banded dotterel colony for second breeding season

Tuesday, 21 January 2020

A lone cat is thought to be responsible for another disastrous breeding season at an embattled native shorebird colony.

A solitary fledgling was tagged this season at the Eastbourne banded dotterel colony, the lone survivor from 14 nests established along the roughly 300-metre long stretch of beach on the eastern shores of Wellington Harbour in Lower Hutt.

Parker Jones, co-ordinator from the Mainland Island Restoration Organisation (MIRO), said it appeared a domestic tabby cat, which had repeatedly been caught on camera terrorising the colony, all but wiped out the eggs and chicks. It is believed the same cat had been responsible for predating the colony last year, when not a single bird born at the site survived.

The cat had evaded a live catch trap at the beach. A trapping programme that targets most other mammalian predators protects the colony.

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Conservationists believe a single cat is responsible for all but wiping out the eggs and chicks at the Eastbourne banded dotterel colony this breeding season.

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The ground nesting birds, which the Department of Conservation classifies as nationally vulnerable, typically lay three eggs per nest.

Many of the dotterel pairs had renested two or three times and Jones said it had been hard for volunteers monitoring the site to keep finding the chicks disappearing overnight.

Banded dotterels lay their eggs on the shore, using camouflage as the main defence against predators.

The dotterels had left the colony early this year which Jones said was evidence the adults, which did not appear to have been predated, had given up for the season.

'We should still be seeing chicks running around now.'

The nearby colony at Baring Head had had much more success, Jones said, with four or five fledglings from six nests. There were likely more that had not been counted.

Threatened species ambassador Erica Wilkinson says neutering, microchipping and keeping tabs on where cats are at night can help stop pets becoming pests.

It was unclear whether the sole fledgling from Eastbourne was still alive. 'We won't know until we catch it again,' Jones said.

MIRO declined to release footage or pictures of the cat saying it did not want to create a witch hunt for the responsible feline.

'There's no law against cats being out at night and there's no law against cats eating native birds,' Jones said.

Department of Conservation threatened species ambassador Erica Wilkinson said cats were natural hunters and both feral and domestic cats were a threat to native wildlife.

She said New Zealand had one of the highest cat ownership rates in the world and there were things people could do to minimise their pet's impact on conservation efforts.

Being a responsible petowner entailed ensuring pet cats were neutered and mircochipped, and knowing where they were at night, she said.