Recovery of Coromandel birds

[Colin Miskelly]

I have recently returned from a couple of weeks away from internet and email, so will post this as a discussion topic rather than sightings.

Most of the time was spent at Papa Aroha (between Coromandel and Colville), a site that I have visited regularly since the 1960s. Papa Aroha is a 1 km-long beach with a camping ground at the north end. We stay on a farm at the south end, launching boats beside a small farm drain/lagoon that is breached on spring tides. The day we arrived (24 Dec) I found 3-egg nests of both variable oystercatcher and NZ dotterel about 5 metres from each other near the lagoon. A few days later further 2-egg nests of both species were found in the next bay to the south (known locally as Maungakaiouta), though the dotterel nest there was subsequently lost to a high tide.

I rarely saw dotterels at Papa Aroha before the 1990s, but they have been regularly present since. This is the first time I have heard of them breeding at this site. Oystercatchers were regularly present since at least the 1970s, but have only attempted breeding in recent years. Family members reported a chick surviving to fledge last year. I fenced the two nests at Papa Aroha to reduce disturbance by people walking along the beach. Neither clutch had hatched by 2 January.
The biggest surprise was five adult brown teal on the lagoon, and my son Kieran reported three small ducklings with one of the birds on 27 Dec. These birds are probably overflow from a population established from recent releases at Port Charles (further north on Coromandel Peninsula). My only previous sighting of brown teal at Papa Aroha was one beach-wrecked at Maungakaiouta in January 1982.

Colin Miskelly

[Neil Fitzgerald]

The increase in NZ Dot and VOC breeding on the peninsular has certainly become quite noticable in the last few years. Two years ago both species had nests for the first time I can remember at Flaxmill Bay near Whitianga. Last year they did it again and there was apparently another NZ dotterel nest on Front Beach (north of and virtually joined to Flaxmill) as I found a very young chick on about the 2nd Jan, and it was there and doing well a month or so later.
It's not all good news though. I've just spent a few days back at Front Beach and the dotterels are trying there again this year. The incubating bird has been given a small patch of beach behind rope but this and the signs asking politely for people to avoid disturbance are totally inadequate. The ban on dogs between 9 am and 7 pm is obviously for the benefit of people, but it might give the birds some respite, if it were obeyed. Dogs could be seen on the beach at any time most days. At one stage there were at least 5 (on a beach only a few hundred meters long). The council was informed and they apparently do patrol the beaches, but obviously not enough to be any deterrent. Some of the worst repeat offenders I saw were people with beach front homes. I was curious whether these people didn't know about the rules, or the impact of dogs on the birds, or just didn't care, so I spoke to one. As expected, she knew the rules and didn’t care. Apparently having a beachfront property made it hard to comply, especially with an old dog, and it didn't chase the birds anyway. I don't think me trying to explain that dogs don't need to actually chase the birds to have them leave the nest made any difference, but at least I felt like I tried. Well, not surprisingly, that dotterel nest appears to have been abandoned. After a couple of days of no birds in the roped area I had a look and there was one very cold egg. It was almost funny how it hadn't been crushed as it sat there between big people prints. I think it is time for a complete summer dog ban there, and maybe more generous areas roped off. There was just such a ban up the coast at Whangapoua specifically for the birds. Of course, in the short time I was there (maybe half an hour) a couple walked their canine off the beach, right past the sign.
I guess all one can do is start writing to the councils and DOC and push for more dog control and enforcement.

[TonyWilson]

Just to add to the Coromandel theme, here at Tairua we had 2 NZ Dotterel nests on the dunes this year. I know of only 3 or 4 other attempts in the last 15 years. Unfortunately the nests were late in the season so had to deal with the summer influx of holiday makers. The nest on the fore dune was spoilt by a dog and the other, which was further back in the dunes, hatched at least 1 chick that I don't know of it's fate. I suspect it didn't survive as I haven't seen the parents lately. I was present on the beach when a dog came out of the dunes with a freshly caught pheasant chick! The owner of the dog lives in a dune front property and I had a chat with him and he seemed to want to keep his dogs in control but I know from observation that most dog owners have little control of their dogs once they are loose. The Dotts might have a chance next season if they nest earlier and an effort is made to educate local dog owners.
Cheers, Tony Wilson.
PS Looking forward to some of those Brown Teal making it down our way.

[Colin Miskelly]

This may not be the most appropriate subject title, but refers to the same site (Papa Aroha), and continues an existing thread.

Our visits to the family farm between Coromandel and Colville have been infrequent in recent years (it was 3 years since the last visit). My awareness of the wildlife at this site dates back to the late 1960s, and many species have colonised or returned in that time. In approx. chronological sequence these were welcome swallow, paradise shelduck, eastern rosella, Australian magpie, spur-winged plover, New Zealand dotterel (breeding), kaka and brown teal. To these can be added the spotted dove and rainbow skinks recorded for the first time on this latest stay (25 Dec 2016 to 2 Jan 2017).

We recorded 49 bird species during the 9 days, including all the above species. The dotterels apparently did not breed this year, but a pair of brown teal had two chicks close to fledging in the little lagoon at the south end of Papaaroha Bay. Other notable species included little penguin (moulting), fluttering shearwater, reef heron, variable oystercatcher, Arctic skua, kereru, shining cuckoo, morepork, tui, bellbird and pipit.

While the fishing around the Motukawao Islands (3 km offshore) was good this year, there were few seabirds around - no big feeding frenzies, and we did not see any flesh-footed shearwaters or Buller's shearwaters. A close inspection of Easter Island (Motuwhakakewa) confirmed that spotted shags have vacated this ancestral breeding site. Apparently Tarahiki Island (east of Waiheke) is their sole remaining breeding site in the Hauraki Gulf, and it is many years since I have seen skeins of spotted shags joining the shearwaters, gannets and terns feeding over kahawai boil-ups off this coast.

The only other species that has disappeared from the area since my childhood are the pied stilts that occasionally nested in boggy paddocks in spring - or maybe it reflects that I only get there in summer these days, when the paddocks are rock hard.

Cheers
Colin

[Neil Fitzgerald]

I find it interesting that you mentioned Aus skink. I saw one for the first time at our family place near Whitianga last week.

[Colin Miskelly]

Some images of the site and birds are in the latest Te Papa blog:

http://blog.tepapa.govt.nz/2017/01/13/sunshine-fishing-and-changes-in-coromandel-birdlife-over-45-years/

Thanks to Ian Southey for information on remaining spotted shag breeding sites in the Hauraki Gulf.

Cheers
Colin

[SomesBirder]

The most recent (and less welcome) addition to the Papa Aroha bird list was a spotted dove this summer.

That seems a bit harsh for a bird that is "not known to have any significant negative ecological or economic impacts"...

[Mxyzptlk]

Please don't get me started on dog owners.

[Doug Norris]

On 23 Sept 2017, I saw a flock of about 150 Spotted Shag - maybe more - from SH25 on rocks close to the road at high tide at Ngarimu Bay just north of Thames. I did not see any birds in breeding plumage. In fact I have not seen any birds in breeding plumage in the area since Sept 2011.

If anyone know where Spotted Shag breed within about 2 hours drive from Thames I would be very grateful if you let me know.