Fairy terns nestle under DOC wings

The fairy tern breeding season is underway and the Northland Department of Conservation is pulling out all the stops to protect the country's rarest bird with full-time wardens employed to guard the nests.
With only around 36 fairy terns left, DOC has brought in special forces to defend the birds while they breed this season.
"There is a chance fairy terns could become extinct," said DOC ranger Abby Meagher.
"There are lots of dangers that face these birds. We're trying to give them the best possible chance of breeding and hopefully increase the population."
The wardens employed for the summer by DOC are stationed at all four fairy tern breeding sites - Waipu, Mangawhai, Papakanui and Pakiri - to protect the birds while they make their nests in sand.
The wardens will trap predators, talk to people on the beach about how to minimise disturbance to fairy terns and other shorebirds, fence off nests and, when necessary, transfer eggs between nests and artificial incubation.
Trainee ranger Rangi Zimmerman is on placement from Nelson Polytechnic at the Waipu refuge.
She has so far spotted five of the birds which are preparing to nest.
"In the fenced off refuge, there are oyster catchers and dotterels nesting but the fairy terns are still copulating. They will be nesting soon and it's my job to keep an eye on them and protect them," said Ms Zimmerman.
"It's a beautiful spot to be working and I'm glad I'm here for such an important reason."
The long-term plan is to increase the population of fairy tern and thus improve their conservation status from endangered to threatened, and expand their breeding range back into parts of their former territories.
The short-term goals for the next five years are to prevent the extinction of the New Zealand subspecies and increase the breeding population by 25 percent by 2015.
DOC spokesman Reuben Williams said the cost of the fairy tern protection plan varied each year but operational costs were around $20,000 per year not including staff salaries.
"That is not a huge amount of money compared with a lot of other projects around the country. We do a lot of work for fairy terns within that small budget."