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Story: Coastal shoreline

Birds of the shoreline

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Birds of the shoreline

Found at Mangawhai, this sand scraping – an apology for a nest – holds an egg of the fairy tern, the smallest and rarest of New Zealand’s terns. One or two eggs are laid between November and January, the summer holiday period, when people unwittingly disturb nesting birds and their chicks with dogs and vehicles.

Using this item

Department of Conservation

Reference: 10026321

by G. R. Parrish

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How to cite this page

Maggy Wassilieff, Coastal shoreline – Shore birds, Te Ara – the Encyclopedia of New Zealand, https://teara.govt.nz/en/photograph/4844/birds-of-the-shoreline (accessed 4 June 2026).

Story by Maggy Wassilieff, published 2 March 2009.