In the wake of nest vandalism a few weeks ago, the arrival of two new fluffy Waihī Beach residents has highlighted the importance of native wildlife protection, an environmental group says.
Two dotterel chicks successfully hatched last week between the Waihī Beach Surf Lifesaving Club and Brighton Reserve, following the vandalism of dotterel nests at Brighton Reserve on January 1.
Sustainable Waihī Beach environmental co-ordinator Pippa Coombes told The Profile people went in at night and took the eggs out of the nests and destroyed one of the nesting colonies.
It was frustrating when the dotterels could be on the verge of extinction, she said.
But it was only a really small minority of people who didn’t respect the wildlife, and she wanted to give a huge shout out to the community who showed support.
However, there was another hazard for the young chicks to contend with.
While it takes five weeks for the chicks to fledge, the full five weeks is “fraught with danger”, with dogs being the worst threat to the young birds on the beach, Pippa said.
Although there is a curfew for dogs at Waihī Beach between 9am and 7pm, it was important for the public to please keep dogs on leads near the chicks outside the curfew, she said.
“So we say as a rule of thumb, and DOC actually say, that safe space is between 20 and 50 metres from them. And always [have] dogs on leads until they’re well away,” she said.
“We’re kind of just putting out a plea to the public [to] keep your eyes peeled because these birds are on the beach.”
It was a “needle in a haystack” for the Waihī Beach Dotterel watching volunteers, known as Dot Watch Waihī Beach, to keep track of the birds once they hatched, Pippa said.
And they could potentially be anywhere along the beach.
“They can move up and down the beach, and we’ve known them to move about 7km before,” she said.
Pippa said a few pairs hatched last year at Brighton Reserve and travelled up to the dog walking beach, which was around a 7km distance.
“So we’re reliant on public information and sightings so we can keep an eye on them.”
“Most of our community are behind us… we’ve got a huge community buy-in, absolutely huge,” she said, and they aimed to get the message out to people who visited the beach that this was important.
Another nest of three eggs was almost ready to hatch in the same area, she said.
“So we might have five chicks running around.”
DETAILS: To help protect vulnerable birds, please report any sightings of the chicks to Facebook. For their safety and wellbeing, please stay 20 to 50 metres from them. To stay up to date with news of the Dotterel chicks, search for Sustainable Waihī Beach on Facebook. To enquire about volunteering with Dot Watch Waihī Beach & Surrounds, find the group on Facebook.
