A banded dotterel in Napier. Volunteers say nesting numbers have declined in recent seasons. Photo / Save the Dotterels
A banded dotterel in Napier. Volunteers say nesting numbers have declined in recent seasons. Photo / Save the Dotterels
Four cats have been identified preying on banded dotterel nests in Napier’s Bay View and Westshore in the worst nesting season recorded.
Save the Dotterels HB, which monitors nesting zones in Napier, says 18 of 42 monitored nests in the affected area fell victim to cats thisseason.
Additional chicks were also lost. Of about 52 chicks hatched in the area, about 14 survived to fledge.
Co-ordinator Lynne Anderson said two of the cats were domestic, wearing collars and bells. Another appeared to be a well-fed domestic cat, and one was believed to be stray.
“The cat came back each night until the nest was gone.”
Eighteen of 42 monitored nests were predated by cats this season, with only 14 of an estimated 52 chicks surviving. Photo / Save the Dotterels
Pōhowera, or banded dotterels, are a protected species that breed only in New Zealand. They nest on beaches and braided riverbeds between August and February.
“Over the past four seasons of monitoring, we have watched their slow decline on Napier’s beaches,” Anderson said.
“It is heartbreaking for the volunteers, but no doubt worse for the birds.”
The group has carried out mail drops to hundreds of nearby houses, asking residents to keep their cats indoors at night.
“We are not against cats ... we are just requesting that owners keep their cats inside at night. All the predation happens at night.”
One of four cats captured on trail cameras entering nesting areas at night in Bay View/Westshore this season. Photo / Save the Dotterels
Cats are not the only threat facing dotterels. Anderson said nests are also lost to dogs, people, vehicles, fires, rats, mustelids and gulls.
She said the final nests of the season were predated in early January, after which the birds stopped re-nesting in the monitored area.
Hawke’s Bay has been selected as part of an international study on banded dotterels, conducted with the Department of Conservation and the Max Planck Institute in Germany. More than 70 Hawke’s Bay birds have been fitted with leg bands over the past two years for identification.
“This is a significant undertaking for Napier, and so the protection of the birds and their habitat becomes that much more critical,” Anderson said.
“If New Zealand wants its indigenous biodiversity to survive, there needs to be a drastic change in ‘cat culture’.”
She said some councils across the country had introduced cat bylaws requiring pets to be desexed, microchipped, and breeders registered, claiming that such measures encouraged more responsible cat ownership.
A Hawke’s Bay Regional Council spokesperson said regional survey work shows the region’s rivers and coastline provide habitat for about 16% of the global pōhowera population.
“The banded dotterel population is experiencing a significant national decline,” the spokesperson said.
“Although the species is capable of multiple nesting attempts within a season following losses to predation or flooding, this generally results in reduced chick survival and negatively affects the overall population.”
Post-Cyclone Gabrielle monitoring identified a 17% decline in the Hawke’s Bay breeding population, equating to an estimated 2.5% decline globally.
