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
> >
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