The fairy tern (''Sternula nereis'') is a small tern which is native to the southwestern Pacific. It is listed as "

Vulnerable Vulnerable may refer to: General * Vulnerability * Vulnerability (computing) * Vulnerable adult * Vulnerable species Music Albums * ''Vulnerable'' (Marvin Gaye album), 1997 * ''Vulnerable'' (Tricky album), 2003 * ''Vulnerable'' (The Used album) ...

" by the

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and the New Zealand subspecies is " Critically Endangered". There are three

subspecies In biological classification, subspecies is a rank below species, used for populations that live in different areas and vary in size, shape, or other physical characteristics (morphology), but that can successfully interbreed. Not all species ...

: * Australian fairy tern, ''Sternula nereis nereis'' ( Gould, 1843) – breeds in

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

* New Caledonian fairy tern, ''Sternula nereis exsul'' ( Mathews, 1912) – breeds in

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New Zealand fairy tern The New Zealand fairy tern or tara-iti (''Sternula nereis davisae'') is a subspecies of the fairy tern endemic to New Zealand. It is New Zealand's rarest native breeding bird, with about 40 individuals left in the wild. It nests at four coastal ...

, ''Sternula nereis davisae'' ( Mathews & Iredale, 1913) – breeds in northern New Zealand

Description

The fairy tern is a small tern with a white body and light bluish-grey wings.A small black patch extends no further than the eye and not as far as the bill. In the breeding plumage both the beak and the legs are yellowish-orange. During the rest of the year the black crown is lost, being mostly replaced by white feathers, and the beak becomes black at the tip and the base. The sexes look alike and the plumage of immature birds is similar to the non-breeding plumage. The total length of the fairy tern is about .

Behaviour

The fairy tern mainly feeds on fish which it catches by hovering over the sea before plunging beak first into the water to grab its prey. It seldom goes far out to sea but is often to be seen where predatory fish are feeding on shoals of small fish. It also consumes crustaceans,

mollusc Mollusca is the second-largest phylum of invertebrate animals after the Arthropoda, the members of which are known as molluscs or mollusks (). Around 85,000 extant species of molluscs are recognized. The number of fossil species is esti ...

s and some plant material. Breeding takes place in the spring in colonies on sheltered beaches on the mainland or on offshore islands. The nest is just above high-water mark and is a scrape in the sand. One or two eggs are laid and both parents share the incubation and care of the chicks and have occasionally been seen providing post-fledging parental care.

Status

Formerly classified as a Species of Least Concern by the

, recent research shows that its numbers have been decreasing rapidly throughout its range; the New Zealand subspecies has been on the brink of extinction for decades. The fairy tern was consequently uplisted to

status in 2008. The New Zealand fairy tern has numerous breeding areas, largely incorporating the upper-north region of the North Island. In 2011, there were only about 42 known individuals. With a breeding program in place by the New Zealand Department of Conservation, the population was estimated in 2020 at 40.

References

* Douglas Adams & Mark Carwardine, ''Last Chance to See'' (Ballantine Books, 1992, )

External links

BirdLife Species Factsheet
{{Taxonbar, from=Q76328 fairy tern fairy tern Birds of New Caledonia Birds of South Australia Birds of Tasmania Birds of Victoria (Australia) Birds of Western Australia fairy tern fairy tern