Seabirds around fishing vessels

Fairy tern

Sternula nereis

The fairy tern (Sternula nereis, tara iti in Māori) is the most endangered of New Zealand’s endemic birds. The relict population of fewer than a dozen pairs survives between Whangarei in the north and Auckland to the south. The fairy tern is very similar to the migratory little tern.

Sternula nereis
CC-BY, Dragonfly Science

Mean number of fairy tern recorded around fishing vessels during counts carried out by government observers, binned to 0.4 degree of longitude and latitude. The size of the circle indicates the number of observations, whereas the colour indicates the mean number of birds recorded during counts. Empty circles indicate that no birds were observed. The grey areas indicate water depths of less than 1000 m.

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