An email catch -up with my Fairy tern researcher friend Claire in Western Australia reminds me that with Covid 19 still rampant in some areas of Australia the chance to visit again will be delayed for some time.
Claire has just sent me her latest just co-authored Fairy tern paper about the populations of this bird on the coast of Western Australia.
During my many visits to WA I have been able to observe these fascinating terns on the Swan river and nearby coastline and further South.. On my last visit Claire enabled me to visit one of her projects at a island Navy base. A rare opportunity indeed and it was amazing to watch 100 birds at a roost site. In the evening 400 hundred birds were using this location as a night roost site.
In New Zealand you are unlikely to see more than a few birds at any one time due to their low total population numbers (40) and the fact that they are not colony nesters.
