Auckland Airport puts plans in place to protect native dotterels nesting by runways

A plan is being hatched at one of the country’s busiest international airports to help protect endangered native birds after they started nesting on grass next to busy plane taxiways.

Since the start of September, the New Zealand dotterel (tūturiwhatu) have begun taking up their annual residence at Auckland Airport, creating nests alongside the paths of giant planes.

Native dotterels have been spotted nesting at Auckland Airport.

Currently, four pairs of dotterels have been spotted, with more expected to arrive before Christmas.

“Our airfield is predator-free, with high fencing right around the perimeter which does a great job of keeping out stray cats, dogs and other pests. This is very attractive to nesting dotterels,” said Auckland Airport wildlife manager Lucy Hawley.

Hawley said Auckland Airport was proud to provide a safe breeding ground and the dotterel nests posed no risk to the safe operation of the airfield.

The airport was also in partnership with certified bird-banders working on a new initiative to band the nesting dotterels to better track their nesting behaviour.

The dotterels will be tracked to see if the same birds and their chicks return to lay eggs at the airport in the coming years.

“Each year, we get between eight and 12 dotterels nesting at the airport. Over the past 10 years, we estimate we would have seen around 80 dotterels hatch on our airfield, something we’re super-proud of,” said Hawley.

The wildlife team at Auckland Airport works to mark the location of nests throughout the season using geographic informaton system (GIS) technology, which maps out nesting spots. Coloured stakes were used to make nesting areas obvious to airfield workers, including lawnmowers.

Native dotterels have been spotted nesting at Auckland Airport. The birds are being protected and tracked to ensure their safety.

Hawley said the airport took the risk of things such as bird strikes seriously, so it was not always possible for birds to co-exist with planes flying in and out.

A wide range of deterrents are used to keep many birds away from the airfield, such as blasting sirens, deterrent sounds, and growing grass that does not appeal to birds.

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The Auckland Airport’s wildlife team co-operated with the Department of Conservation, Forest & Bird, the SPCA and Auckland Council to ensure native species were protected wherever possible around the airfield.

Estimates put the population of the native New Zealand dotterel to be around 2500, making them an endangered species.