SHOREBIRDS of the HAURAKI GULF Around the Shores of the Hauraki Gulf Marine Park

This poster celebrates the species of birds commonly encountered SHOREBIRDS OF THE HAURAKI GULF around the shores of the Hauraki Gulf Marine Park. Red knot Calidris canutus Huahou Eastern curlew Numenius madagascariensis 24cm, 120g | Arctic migrant 63cm, 900g | Arctic migrant South Island pied oystercatcher Haematopus finschi Torea Black stilt 46cm, 550g | Endemic Himantopus novaezelandiae Kaki 40cm, 220g | Endemic Pied stilt Himantopus himantopus leucocephalus Poaka 35cm, 190g | Native (breeding) (non-breeding) Variable oystercatcher Haematopus unicolor Toreapango 48cm, 725g | Endemic Bar-tailed godwit Limosa lapponica baueri Kuaka male: 39cm, 300g | female: 41cm, 350g | Arctic migrant Spur-winged plover Vanellus miles novaehollandiae 38cm, 360g | Native Whimbrel Numenius phaeopus variegatus Wrybill Anarhynchus frontalis 43cm, 450g | Arctic migrant Ngutu pare Ruddy turnstone 20cm, 60g | Endemic Arenaria interpres Northern New Zealand dotterel Charadrius obscurus aquilonius Tuturiwhatu 23cm, 120g | Arctic migrant Shore plover 25cm, 160g | Endemic Thinornis novaeseelandiae Tuturuatu Banded dotterel Charadrius bicinctus bicinctus Pohowera 20cm, 60g | Endemic 20cm, 60g | Endemic (male breeding) Pacific golden plover Pluvialis fulva (juvenile) 25cm, 130g | Arctic migrant (female non-breeding) (breeding) Black-fronted dotterel Curlew sandpiper Calidris ferruginea Elseyornis melanops 19cm, 60g | Arctic migrant 17cm, 33g | Native (male-breeding) (non-breeding) (breeding) (non-breeding) Terek sandpiper Tringa cinerea 23cm, 70g | Arctic migrant (breeding) (non-breeding) (non-breeding) (breeding) Red-necked stint Calidris ruficollis 15cm, 30g | Arctic migrant Pectoral sandpiper Calidris melanotus Sharp-tailed sandpiper Calidris acuminata 23cm, 80g | Arctic migrant (breeding) 22cm, 60g | Arctic migrant (non-breeding) White-faced heron Egretta novehollandiae novaehollandiae Red-billed gull Matuku-moana Larus novaehollandiae scopulinus 67cm, 550g | Native Tarapunga Southern black-backed gull Larus dominicanus Black-billed gull Larus bulleri Tarapuka dominicanus Karoro male: 37cm, 300g | female: 37cm, 260g male: 37cm, 300g | female: 37cm, 250g male: 60cm, 1050g | female: 60cm, 850g | Native | Native | Endemic Reef heron Egretta sacra sacra Matuku-moana 66cm, 400g Royal spoonbill Platalea regia Kotuku-ngutupapa (adult) (first year) White-fronted tern Sterna striata Tara New Zealand fairy tern Sternula nereis davisae Caspian tern Hydroprogne caspia White heron Ardea modesta 77cm, 1700g | Native 42cm, 160g | Native Tara-iti Taranui Kotuku 25cm, 70g | Endemic 51cm, 700g | Native 92cm, 900g | Native WILDLIFE OF THE HAURAKI GULF MARINE PARK The Hauraki Gulf Marine Park was established in 2000 under the Hauraki Gulf Marine Park Act. As our first national park of the sea, made up of 1.2 million hectares of water BUSY AIRSPACE and more than 30 major island groups, it protects scenery, ecosystems and natural features that are nationally significant for their beauty, uniqueness and scientific value. Photo © Neil Fitzgerald Eastern bar-tailed godwits resting in a shallow pond, wait for high tide to recede, so they can return to the Shorebird watching sites rich mudflats of the Firth of Thames to feed. Photo © Neil Fitzgerald Boundary of Hauraki Gulf Marine Park Whangarei Harbour Waipu Estuary Mangawhai Estuary Great Barrier (Whangapoua Harbour) Pakiri Kaipara Omaha Harbour HAURAKI GULF Photo © Neil Fitzgerald Stillwater Colville Matarangi Waiheke Coromandel Waitemata Tahuna (Te Matuku Bay) Harbour Harbour ToreaTamaki Estuary Ambury Park Kawakawa Whitford Bay Tairua Manukau Pauanui Harbour Firth of Thames Opoutere Clarks Beach Miranda Whangamata Internationally significant Ramsar/Shorebird Network Ramsar site Tauranga Harbour TOP: Wrybill. ABOVE: New Zealand dotterel. The exposed flats continue to dwindle. More and more predators, as well as having to cope with our coastal activities, our or diminish over several weeks. Nor do all birds depart, because Avian jewellery: banded and flagged birds East Asian-Australasian flyway and shorebird site network “birds are now concentrated in tight masses, the noise level dogs and our vehicles. there are always some, primarily immature non-breeders, which spend the winter in New Zealand. increasing all the time. A black slab of oystercatchers lines The problem with studying wild birds is that to us they all look Photo © Keith Woodley the distant bank. The white and greys of gulls and terns the same. Marking birds so that individuals can be identified and tracked is an essential tool of wildlife biology and conservation. catch the eye from hundreds of metres away; the browns and Shorebirds home and away You can learn a lot from banded birds: where they are from and greys of the other birds merge with the mud. In a heartbeat Challenges to habitat their subsequent travels, their age, their breeding success, and the flocks are aloft. The sky darkens and the air is churned perhaps most important of all, their survival rates. Over the years The shorebirds – waders, terns, gulls and herons depicted here, there have been a number of studies carried out on birds in the by thousands of wings and voices, as the rolling mass circles region, so you may find quite a few wearing leg bands or flags. occupy a wide range of habitats around the Hauraki Gulf. Some During all phases of their annual cycle, birds must find sufficient and begins descending again towards the bank. Most will have been banded around the Auckland region, but of them – New Zealand dotterel, variable oystercatcher, pied stilt, food to survive and to sustain energy expensive procedures such others will be from elsewhere in New Zealand or from overseas – spur-winged plover and all the gulls and terns nest in the region. as moult and pre-migratory fattening. So for them the food including birds from as far away as Australia, China, Japan, Siberia ” White-faced heron and the rare reef heron also breed in the found in our intertidal areas, or along our waterways and beaches or Alaska. All banded birds will have a number stamped on the band. In tune with the tides region, while the white heron and royal spoonbill breed elsewhere is essential, as are secure roosting areas during high tide. The Other bands, in combinations of colours, will reveal the known age within New Zealand. A recent attempt to reintroduce the shore margin of the Firth of Thames is a massively productive feeding of the bird and where it was banded. Moroshechnaya Estuary plover from the Chatham Islands to Motuora Island failed, but ground and a wetland of international importance. Yet it is Dalai Hu Travel around the Hauraki Gulf and the wheeling flocks of If you see a banded bird, details such as time and place should the eradication of pests from Rangitioto / Motutapu Islands an environment that has undergone one of the most dramatic be sent to the banding office,Department of Conservation, PO shorebirds you encounter may signal the start of one of the most creates new opportunities for this species. transformations in New Zealand’s ecological history. What was Box 10420, Wellington 6143, or email: [email protected]. remarkable travel stories on the planet. The birds come from a nz. You will receive a response telling you where and when the bird Shuangtaizi Estuary For most birds, the region is a giant transport hub with arrivals once towering wetland forest is now drained, fertile dairy country, was banded. YALU JIANG diversity of places – some will be breeding just down the road, Yellow River Delta with a mangrove edge encroaching into the shorebirds nesting, Tongjin Yatsu Tidal Flat others have travelled from the South Island or the length of the and departures throughout the year. From June each year pied Yangcheng Reserve Nankou Photo © NZ Herald Pacific to get here. Bar-tailed godwits from Alaska arrive after an oystercatchers depart for South Island breeding grounds followed, foraging and roosting grounds at 20 metres per year. Photo © Phil Battley Chongming Dao Yoshino Estuary Manko 11,000 km nonstop flight, joining other birds from the northern a few weeks later, by wrybill. From September the tundra-nesters Elsewhere around the Hauraki Gulf every new coastal Mai Po tundra regions, as well as many locals. – ranging from the world’s largest wader, the spectacular eastern development, each new marina, every load of dredge spoil – PACIFIC OCEAN All these birds share some of our favourite places with us – our curlew, to the sparrow-sized red-necked stint – arrive. They chips away at shorebird habitat. Each project may appear to be Kaoh Kapil Olango Island include red knot, ruddy turnstone, Pacific golden plover, sharp- comparatively minor in scale but cumulatively over the past few harbours and estuaries, our beaches, sand spits, shell banks and Kapan other coastal margins. Most of them live completely in tune with tailed sandpiper, curlew sandpiper and, most celebrated of all, decades much habitat has been degraded or lost. But shrinking the tides. During low water they are spread over the exposed flats the godwits. But there is no time off for these travellers, for soon habitat is not the only problem facing birds; mammalian Wasur National Park Tonda Wildlife Reserve foraging for the invertebrate life – shellfish, crabs, worms – that after arrival they must begin preparing for the next migration. predators – rats, cats, mustelids, hedgehogs and dogs pose a Parrys Lagoon Roebuck Bay dwell there. When the tide floods they are pushed together on the Over the next 100 days or so,

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