Fears rare native falcon could kill every dotterel on Eastbourne beach

Thursday, 10 August 2017

Banded dotterel. The tiny little bird that you never see

A rare, native kārearea could wipe out the entire banded dotterel population on a popular Eastbourne beach.

The sight of one of the world's fastest flyers would normally be a source of great enjoyment for Parker Jones, if it was not for the falcon's sinister intentions.

Jones is part of the Mainland Island Restoration Organisation (MIRO) and his pet project is looking after the local population of banded dotterel.

A tiny population of endangered banded dotterel on the Eastbourne beach is facing an unexpected threat from a rare karearea.

A tiny colony exists in front of houses where people walk their dogs, jog and enjoy the beach daily, without knowing they share it with the endangered bird.

**READ MORE:

The dotterel are banded to find out where they go after leaving Eastbourne in February.

* Bold plan to eradicate Eastbourne rats

* Little blue penguins killed in Eastbourne

Parker Jones is working hard to protect banded dotterel on a popular Eastbourne beach.

* First step towards predator free Hutt Valley**

Jones monitors the population and two other colonies further along the Pencarrow coast.

Dotterel lay their eggs on the beach, which are then often eaten by hedgehogs or seagulls.

The sight of a kārearea, a deadly killer of small birds, on a beach is highly unusual and he admitted to having mixed emotions.

So far it had only caught chaffinches but he knew kārearea were more than capable of catching banded dotterel.

You need good eyesight to spot a banded dotterel.

'I would not like to see one threatened species eating another. So far the dotterel have been successful in not being eaten by him.'

Jones said few people realised the tiny birds nested on the Eastbourne coast.

Not only were they extremely small but they were also masters of camouflage. Their eggs looked like pebbles and adults flattened their wings to blend into the beach.

Nesting on the beach left them highly vulnerable to predators and other disturbances. Hedgehogs and cats were major threats, as well as people ignoring signs and driving on the beaches.

Black-backed gulls also enjoyed feasting on dotterel eggs.

Jones said the birds were 'pretty stupid', often building their nests on the high tide mark where they were swept away.

Adults arrived to set up nests from August and stayed to February.

Jones tried to identify all their nests in order to monitor the birds and collect basic data.

Very little is known about dotterel, other than it is in decline. Jones could not even hazard a guess as to how many there were locally.

Nationally, there are believed to be about 5500 birds.

Monitoring such a hard-to-spot bird was not easy and he relied on good hearing, his experience, and powerful binoculars to find nesting sites.

About 70 per cent of nests failed and by monitoring them he hoped to find ways to protect the birds.

Last year four nests appeared on the beach in front of his Eastbourne house. Remarkably they had a 100 per cent success rate, despite the presence of cats, dogs and beach walkers.

The Wellington Regional Council recently put up signs asking people to be careful.

Last year, locals were really supportive once they knew the bird was nesting on the beach and Jones hoped the tiny colony would have another good nesting season.

The presence of a kārearea, however, has him worried.