Fairy Tern at Foxton Beach

[Oscar Thomas]

On Facebook today per the New Zealand Birders page from Imogen Warren, photographed with the band combo RB-YM and a Little Tern not far away. A first year female from the 19/20 Mangawhai season over 600km away! 21 years since one was seen at this location. A big trip for our rarest bird.

[ledzep]

Thanks for the notification on Facebook, Dianne and I headed up to Foxton Beach and we weren't the only birders there. Good to see one of the few NZ Fairy Terns at Foxton. Both the Fairy Tern and Little Tern were roosting with the Godwits, Knots and WF Terns on the spit near high tide. Also a Red-necked Stint with a lone Wrybill earlier feeding near the bollards (no sign of them at high tide). A good number of Black-billed Gulls, and at least two Pacific Golden Plovers.

[Paul Gibson]

We had a great afternoon at Foxton Beach, in ideal conditions, with the special birds that are there at present. The star among them is the fairy tern, a very rare bird south of Auckland. With a low and slow approach the bird allowed us in close, so good photos were possible, even able to read letters on the metal band. Photos also of the little tern and red-necked stint, but we could not locate the common tern. Most birds were on or near the spit at high tide. Thanks to Imogen for first alerting us to the fairy tern.

http://www.upics.co.nz

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[jimmifinn]

It was an exciting afternoon at the Manawatu Estuary this afternoon. The Fairy Tern, Little Tern and Red-necked Stint were all new birds for me and all gave good photo opportunities. Thanks Imogen for letting us know these birds were present. I had to wade through a stream full of flounders but the birds were very obliging and it was an interesting and rewarding visit to the Manawatu Estuary

Little Tern.

Foxton Little Tern IMG_6148.jpg (88.34 KiB) Viewed 1106 times

Little Tern.

Foxton Little Tern IMG_6148.jpg (88.34 KiB) Viewed 1106 times

Immature White-faced Tern (at right)

Foxton WF Tern Immature IMG_6236.jpg (216.05 KiB) Viewed 1106 times