Pakiri Beach sees first rare tern for 42 years ready to fly

A pipe shelter keeps this fairy tern chick safe.

A fairy tern chick has successfully fledged at Pakiri Beach, the first for almost half a century.

The critically endangered birds, with a total population of between 35 and 40, are confined to breeding areas north of Auckland at Pakiri, Waipu, Mangawhai and Papakanui Spit, the southern arm of the Kaipara Harbour.

Department of Conservation ranger David Wilson said the birds had been managed intensively in the past, with eggs removed from nests for artificial incubation, but this season the single breeding pair at Pakiri were left to their own devices.

"We did shift some shell away from one area where they were loitering to build a nest but that looked like it would go under at high tide," he said.

It is 42 years since the last chick was reared to the flying stage at Pakiri.

Overall the fairy tern season has been one of the most successful of recent years, with eight chicks fledged, compared with just three last season.

"The population is slowly increasing but it's hard work," Mr Wilson said.

"They are not a species we can transfer to a predator-free offshore island because they are very particular about their habitat."

Fairy terns nest on shell and sand banks just above high tide, leaving them exposed to 4WD vehicles, dogs, beach-goers and gulls.

They are a delicate seabird slightly larger than a blackbird.

The New Zealand fairy tern is recognised as a genetically distinct sub-species of the Australian fairy tern, which is more common but still threatened.