White-winged Black Tern/s at Coopers Lagoon, Canterbury

[Jan]

Edgar Stead recorded a mass of obs. His book isn't all that available, but the obs were pretty ok. People recently have questioned his records, saying they
can't be true but he was so early, why would he have manufactured any? And he shot everything, so he had bodies to count.

[Michael Szabo]

Of the four breeding records reported on New Zealand Birds Online, three are listed in the December-February summer period:
Opihi River, South Canterbury (December-February 1973-74)
Upper Acheron River, Marlborough (December 2012)
Near Twizel (January 2015)

The other one is from the lower Rakaia River which is listed only as, "1917, 3 chicks fledged":
Stead, E.F. 1927. The native and introduced birds of Canterbury. pp 204-225 In: Speight, R.; Wall, A. & Laing, R.M. (eds) Natural history of Canterbury. Christchurch, Philosophical Institute of Canterbury.

Does anyone have this book so the dates for this breeding event in 1917 can be checked, please?

[Byrd]

Of the four breeding records reported on New Zealand Birds Online, three are listed in the December-February summer period:
Opihi River, South Canterbury (December-February 1973-74)
Upper Acheron River, Marlborough (December 2012)
Near Twizel (January 2015)

The other one is from the lower Rakaia River which is listed only as, "1917, 3 chicks fledged":
Stead, E.F. 1927. The native and introduced birds of Canterbury. pp 204-225 In: Speight, R.; Wall, A. & Laing, R.M. (eds) Natural history of Canterbury. Christchurch, Philosophical Institute of Canterbury.

Does anyone have this book so the dates for this breeding event in 1917 can be checked, please?

Colin Miskelly says January 1917 - http://rare.birds.org.nz/files/documents/Oltl9UrlrF.pdf (page 94)

[andrewcrossland]

Breeding is likley to have occurred more often than has been recorded. They have been frequently encountered on braided river surveys on both the Rakaia and Waimakariri rivers. One year not all that lonmg ago we had 5, from memory comprising a pair and individuals scattered along 15 km of river. That was on the Waimakariri and included at least 1 in full BP, another in >50%, and the others with some colour, so Southern Hemisphere cycle. Subsequent nest searches found nothing as a large flood had come through the river. He's some pics of one in BP from a different year - Waimakariri River.

These pics are from 16 Nov 2006. WW Bl Terns are usually associated with B/F Tern colonies as this one was....

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And here's one from 9 jan 2019 - again on the Waimakariri. From memory there were I think 3 together, this one the most coloured. Again, with a B/F Tern colony.

AC phone Jan 2019 081.JPG (253.58 KiB) Viewed 638 times

[andrewcrossland]

here's a pic of the 16 Nov 2006 lining up on its attack run - and it almost took my hat off!! It kinda gave the sense it had a nest or chicks nearby!!

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[Michael Szabo]

Thanks for the link Byrd, another instance of summer breeding so they were clearly southern hemisphere birds.

Thanks also Andrew for posting your photos of WWBTs in breeding plumage during summer, which identifies them as southern hemisphere birds.

Hopefully some photos will be taken of WWBTs at Coopers Lagoon/Kaitorete Spit over the coming weeks and months if they stick around so we can see if any of them develop breeding plumage and can be identified as northern hemisphere birds.

[andrewcrossland]

fingers crossed they're not migrants, but a nice little post-breeding flock of Aotearoa's rarest native tern species?!! haha

[tom.b]

That would be exciting!

fingers crossed they're not migrants, but a nice little post-breeding flock of Aotearoa's rarest native tern species?!! haha

[Pete McClelland]

Two WWBT with BFT on Oreti beach on Monday.

[Jan]

fingers crossed they're not migrants, but a nice little post-breeding flock of Aotearoa's rarest native tern species?!! haha

Yay, that's exactly what I thought too!
Your photos are really astonishing esp.the last one.