Tara teo - Little tern - Sternula albifrons
Only some 100 Little Tern migrate to New Zealand in any year. Most of them are northern hemisphere migrants that spend their non-breeding season in New Zealand, but a few are from the population breeding in Australia and they can be recognised by having a moult cycle that is six months different from the northern hemisphere birds. In New Zealand, little terns inhabit sheltered coastal waters, and may occur in estuaries and harbours right around the New Zealand coast. (NZ Birdsonline.org).
Photographed at Birdlings Flat Beach 07 01 2023 associating with the much larger but similar in appearance white-fronted tern. My only other observations of this bird have been in the nearby Lake Ellesmere, an estuarine-like lake bordering the site of these photos.
Tara teo - Little tern - Sternula albifrons
Only some 100 Little Tern migrate to New Zealand in any year. Most of them are northern hemisphere migrants that spend their non-breeding season in New Zealand, but a few are from the population breeding in Australia and they can be recognised by having a moult cycle that is six months different from the northern hemisphere birds. In New Zealand, little terns inhabit sheltered coastal waters, and may occur in estuaries and harbours right around the New Zealand coast. (NZ Birdsonline.org).
Photographed at Birdlings Flat Beach 07 01 2023 associating with the much larger but similar in appearance white-fronted tern. My only other observations of this bird have been in the nearby Lake Ellesmere, an estuarine-like lake bordering the site of these photos.