NZ dotterels at Waikanae River estuary

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Neil Fitzgerald
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Re: NZ dotterels at Waikanae River estuary

Postby Neil Fitzgerald » Sun Dec 02, 2018 9:11 am

This is a familiar situation. Is been discussed here in the past. I don't know what the answer is, but in some situations I think it helps if more of the right sort of people know, so they can police the more ignorant visitors. Social media is undoubtedly full of ignorant people. I like to think birdingnz members are much more switched on and genuine.
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boneywhitefoot
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Re: NZ dotterels at Waikanae River estuary

Postby boneywhitefoot » Sun Dec 02, 2018 5:20 pm

Its a hard situation, the baby dots have hatched and are zooming around so it went well in the end.
I overreacted sorry
Jim_j
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Re: NZ dotterels at Waikanae River estuary

Postby Jim_j » Sun Dec 02, 2018 5:51 pm

Hey that's good news - slowly spreading south
Cheers Jim
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Re: NZ dotterels at Waikanae River estuary

Postby andrewcrossland » Sun Dec 02, 2018 10:16 pm

With reference to the Falcon nest - Just as a matter of interest and not wanting to start WW3 by pitching tribe against tribe, but who were all the photographers and where did they all come from? Birders networks? social media? birding tourists? photographers club? Joe public?
Always good to know to what level a bird should be reported - personally I try to let people know asap and not hold secrets, but thats generally for rare birds rather than sensitive nesters.
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boneywhitefoot
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Re: NZ dotterels at Waikanae River estuary

Postby boneywhitefoot » Mon Dec 03, 2018 11:32 am

all photographers and came by word of mouth.
The chick fledged and has gone now.
Alan Tennyson
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Re: NZ dotterels at Waikanae River estuary

Postby Alan Tennyson » Mon Dec 03, 2018 12:14 pm

Can the situation at Waikanae be clarified ...if today "the chick fledged and has gone now", can I take it that a pair of NZ dotterels managed to raise one chick to fledgling age? ...yet yesterday it was said that "the baby dots have hatched and are zooming around", so did other chicks recently die? Successful breeding of this species would be an historic first for the Wellington region, so it would be good to know more details. Where can some of the photos be found? Last time I looked on the spit, which was admittedly nearly 2 months ago, I didn't see any NZ dotterels. Last summer we determined that the nesting Waikanae birds were of the northern subspecies, so I wonder how far south the northern birds will eventually go?
thanks
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boneywhitefoot
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Re: NZ dotterels at Waikanae River estuary

Postby boneywhitefoot » Mon Dec 03, 2018 1:00 pm

The falcon chick fledged not the dot chicks.
its normal for a falcon chick to hang around its nest in close proximity for a few weeks after being able to fly.
this has not happened with the chick I was following.
As soon as she could fly she left the location and has not been seen again which was sad for me as we were waiting to see the parents feed her..
The dot chicks in question were first reported by Nikki on the 19th of November.
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Nikki McArthur
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Re: NZ dotterels at Waikanae River estuary

Postby Nikki McArthur » Tue Dec 04, 2018 11:26 am

Hi all,

Just to clarify, my colleague Samantha Ray found the NZ dotterel nest on the 19th November, and it contained three eggs. We were visiting the estuary as part of a coastal bird survey we're carrying out for Greater Wellington Regional Council and Maritime NZ, and so were specifically looking for evidence of breeding birds. We're now nearing the end of this survey, having almost finished walking around 450 km of the Wellington and Wairarapa coastlines, and boating around all of the islands, mapping the distribution and abundance of coastal shorebirds down to a 1 km resolution.

As Alan says, it's great news that these eggs have hatched, as it's the first record I'm aware of of NZ dotterels successfully breeding on the Wellington west coast. That said, our coastal survey has turned up NZ dotterels at five locations on the Wairarapa coast, including as far south as the Pahaoa River mouth, which is actually further south than Waikanae. NZ dotterels have been breeding successfully at Riversdale Beach for several years of course, but finding them at four other locations along the Wairarapa coastline was certainly a welcome surprise.

Given the historical nature of the Waikanae breeding attempt, it would be great to get confirmation of whether or not these chicks successfully fledge. If there are still concerns about word getting around and the chicks being disturbed, perhaps just waiting until well after they've fledged before providing an update would be the way to go.

Then again, I suspect given the location that it's going to be really difficult to keep this sort of thing under wraps, now or in the future. I notice for example that DoC have put out a Facebook post in the last week, announcing that the eggs have hatched - not the most sensible thing to do if the aim is to keep this event low profile. Given this, perhaps a more successful approach would be to be completely up front about the presence of the birds, and to put in fencing, signage etc to manage levels of disturbance. Given the convenient location, even a roster of nest-minders on busy days/weekends might also be a good idea, as is done at some of the coastal sites up north.

Cheers,
Nikki
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Re: NZ dotterels at Waikanae River estuary

Postby boneywhitefoot » Tue Dec 04, 2018 12:54 pm

2 of the three eggs hatched.
both chicks are still alive.
can't be any clearer than that.
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jdowding
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Re: NZ dotterels at Waikanae River estuary

Postby jdowding » Sun Apr 07, 2019 2:44 pm

Does anyone know whether any chicks actually fledged from this breeding attempt? And whether the adults are still in the area?
Thanks
John Dowding

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