birding-aus

Disturbance to tern colony

To: Peter Shute <>
Subject: Disturbance to tern colony
From: Dave Torr <>
Date: Mon, 3 Dec 2012 09:47:00 +1100
Thanks - good TV and "fun and adventure" must surely take a back seat to
preserving a few terns??????

On 3 December 2012 09:41, Peter Shute <> wrote:

> This is a reply to my question from Eric Woehler, BirdLife Tasmania
> convenor:
>
> **************
> *       the colony was known to Parks & Wildlife Service (PWS) and the
> permit issued for the Mark Webber Challenge specifically prohibited
> helicopter operations over beaches to protect beach-nesting shorebirds and
> terns, and feeding/roosting sites of seabirds and shorebirds. BirdLife
> Tasmania works with PWS in conducting beach-nesting bird surveys of the
> areas to be used by the MWC in the weeks before the event to identify
> sensitive/no-go areas which are incorporated into the event planning.
> *       the helicopter was observed 20m above the beach and all nesting
> fairy terns were massively disturbed by the helicopter; the incident was
> witnessed by a senior PWS Ranger.
> *       the colony was being monitored and there were approximately 70
> nests with eggs/chicks present. Based on fairy and little tern surveys over
> the last 4 or 5 years, we have fewer than 200 pairs of fairy terns in
> Tasmania, and fewer than 10 pairs of little terns in Tasmania; we believe
> the colony disturbed by the helicopter represents between 30 and 50% of the
> breeding effort this season.
> *       the permit was specifically for the MWC and was not a statewide
> permit
> ***************
>
> This sounds to me like the pilot, or somebody instructing them, paid no
> attention to the information that had been provided.
>
> Peter Shute
>
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: 
> >  On Behalf Of
> > Peter Shute
> > Sent: Sunday, 2 December 2012 12:30 PM
> > To: ; 
> > Subject: Re: [Birding-Aus] Disturbance to tern colony
> >
> > "He said a permit issued by the state Parks and Wildlife
> > Service specifically called for the protection of
> > beach-nesting birds to prevent just such an event."
> >
> > Would this be a permit for that landing, or a general state
> > wide permit?
> >
> > Peter Shute
> >
> >
> > --------------------------
> > Sent using BlackBerry
> >



<Prev in Thread] Current Thread [Next in Thread>
Admin

The University of NSW School of Computer and Engineering takes no responsibility for the contents of this archive. It is purely a compilation of material sent by many people to the birding-aus mailing list. It has not been checked for accuracy nor its content verified in any way. If you wish to get material removed from the archive or have other queries about the archive e-mail Andrew Taylor at this address: andrewt@cse.unsw.EDU.AU