Caspians Terns at Whakamaru Dam

[Ken George]

Pair of Caspian terns loafing with the swans and ducks on the Whakamaru Dam, looked to be an adult and a juvenile (calling for food). Nearest open sea is the Tasman in a direct line about 110kms to Kawhia or the Pacific about 90kms off Maketu. I've seen both Caspian and white winged black tern on a very small wetland with a stream just out of Birdsville in the Aussie outback, nearest bit of sea about 950kms in a direct line, still, Whakamaru is the furthest inland I've seen Caspians in NZ.

[RussCannings]

Hi Ken,

In the Waikato we don't like to play by the rules, so Caspian Terns are actually a fairly normal visitor to lakes, large rivers, and flooded paddocks in the entire catchment, with Whakamaru being one of their favourite hang out spots (albeit in 1s and 2s typically). The closer you get to the sea along the Waikato, the more numerous they become (e.g. There are probably 40+ within 10km of Huntly as I type this), however there are usually a handful floating around Taupo, the Rotorua Lakes, and other hydro lakes like Whakamaru most times of the year. Peat lakes like Ngaroto also usually host a few, and seasonal flooded areas can attract them as well.

While not exactly the same situation, Pied Shag also explore the inland reaches of the Waikato River and adjacent lakes in a way that is quite abnormal elsewhere in the country (regular as far inland as Cambridge/Hamilton, with occasional strays to places like Whakamaru).

Cheers,

Russ
p.s. One day the Whakamaru Dam will turn up an awesome bird. Such a neat spot at a crossroads of valleys.

[troymakan]

Hey Ken and Russ
Yes I just had a couple on lake Rotorua the other day. As Russ says they are fairly common in small numbers in this area.
On Russ's final point I got a report of a Tropic bird at the Tokomaru Dam last summer. On further interrogation the observer decided it was actually a Caspian;)

[fras444]

Pair of Caspian terns loafing with the swans and ducks on the Whakamaru Dam, looked to be an adult and a juvenile (calling for food). Nearest open sea is the Tasman in a direct line about 110kms to Kawhia or the Pacific about 90kms off Maketu. I've seen both Caspian and white winged black tern on a very small wetland with a stream just out of Birdsville in the Aussie outback, nearest bit of sea about 950kms in a direct line, still, Whakamaru is the furthest inland I've seen Caspians in NZ.

As mentioned by the other two, yip they also habit 'inland' areas of New Zealand particularly the WAI/BOP area (must be how that area is all kinda linked by waterways leading to the sea) when working for the council in Taupo, we did some work out there quite a bit and would always see two or three pairs on that little lagoony bit as you cross that lagoon/swamp to get to the village. Great place to see Grey teal as well

I'll find a picture I got before I left New Zealand but Rotorua, let's narrow it down to Lake Rotorua and lets zoom in on Sulphur point behind the government gardens and bath house.
There is a walkway to the right of the bath house that will take you around the bush/ lake line with some views looking back to the Polynesian spa pools and here you will find...

Autum/winter a large number of Black-backed gulls and you will also find... I counted at least... 8 10 Caspian terns

Spring/summer one of the best inland breeding areas of Redbilled gulls anywhere in the country, even rivalling some of the larger costal colonies, some even nesting in the manuka shrubs, also. You will find Blackbacked and blackbilled gulls... All nesting in one harmonious family.... Well... Until the blackbacks start circling and looking for a unsupervised chick or egg or when a neibour gets too close to the other... You will also find the Caspian terns on the outer edges....

[Ken George]

Ah okay, good to know. I was doing an eBird atlas bird count on the phone app at Whakamaru when I saw the terns. When I entered them on the app one of the red spot none previously recorded here notes came up, hence my photo and post. When I got home I looked up their distribution map in Schofield and Stephenson and saw that there is a grey species present area marking covering Taupo, Rotorua and part of the Waikato. Pays to rely on more than one resource eh?

[fras444]

Hi Ken,

In the Waikato we don't like to play by the rules, so Caspian Terns are actually a fairly normal visitor to lakes, large rivers, and flooded paddocks in the entire catchment, with Whakamaru being one of their favourite hang out spots (albeit in 1s and 2s typically). The closer you get to the sea along the Waikato, the more numerous they become (e.g. There are probably 40+ within 10km of Huntly as I type this), however there are usually a handful floating around Taupo, the Rotorua Lakes, and other hydro lakes like Whakamaru most times of the year. Peat lakes like Ngaroto also usually host a few, and seasonal flooded areas can attract them as well.

While not exactly the same situation, Pied Shag also explore the inland reaches of the Waikato River and adjacent lakes in a way that is quite abnormal elsewhere in the country (regular as far inland as Cambridge/Hamilton, with occasional strays to places like Whakamaru).

Cheers,

Russ
p.s. One day the Whakamaru Dam will turn up an awesome bird. Such a neat spot at a crossroads of valleys.

Love a wee bit of inter- Provence rivalry.... one day at Lake Rotorua/Sulphur point will turn into an awesome birding day, a great wee place for spotting that geothermal habitat brings all sorts of birds around and apparently there are bats around that area behind the poo ponds and the soccer fields.. good numbers of endemic song birds around as well...

I have to say.... Since you jogged my memory about you talikng about Waikato and not playing by the rules and your comments about waikato gulls or lack of......
While I was truck driving not long before I left NZ...
I spotted big flocks Black-backed gulls at Putaruru and a couple of Redbilled gulls.... didn't think anything of it until further down the road... Then I remembered one of your posts....

Oh is that colony of Pied shags on one of those peat lakes that's mentioned in nzbirds still there??

[fras444]

Ah okay, good to know. I was doing an eBird atlas bird count on the phone app at Whakamaru when I saw the terns. When I entered them on the app one of the red spot none previously recorded here notes came up, hence my photo and post. When I got home I looked up their distribution map in Schofield and Stephenson and saw that there is a grey species present area marking covering Taupo, Rotorua and part of the Waikato. Pays to rely on more than one resource eh?

Absolutely no problems at all mate. Have to say.... when you see a massive gull like bird like the Caspian tern in inland water bodies such as Whakamaru, it always turns heads pardon the pun at the southern end of Lake Taupo, on a misty day and you see a Caspian fly past, a petrel and a pied shag on the walf, you'd be mistaken if you thought you were at an ocean... Remeber a few years ago one of those storms a petrel had ended up on the lake

[Ken George]

After all that, I do now remember many years ago seeing Caspians at Sulphur Point in Rotorua. What and how are these birds finding to eat in these inland waterways? Only feeding behaviour I've seen is plunge diving along the coast. Anybody seen how they feed inland?

[zarkov]

I love Caspians. One thing I've noticed about them here, Okura/Stillwater is that they always roost in company.

I see them a lot, roosting with Oyster catchers, Plovers, it doesn't matter which.

They're obviously benefiting from the other bird's warning systems, they can chill out knowing that the Plovers etc will kick up a racket if anything comes near.

[Richard Schofield]

Birds of the World states "the Caspian Tern occurs on all continents, breeding and/or wintering along coastlines and inland along rivers, lakes, and marshes" and a look at the eBird map confirms this, with widespread inland records in N America and Europe (though not so much in Asia and Africa, where the species is less common). So maybe inland records in NZ are to be expected. (The distribution is similar to Pied Shag, which is relatively widespread in inland Australia, but less so in NZ.)