An expedition to the crystal clear waters of the Coral Sea in 2006 found a new breeding bird for Australia (see http://www.ecology-solutions.com.au/trip_reports.html). The New Caledonian Fairy Tern is a little known and threatened bird which breeds on remote Pacific islands. In Australia, we usually associate Fairy Terns with a different form which nests on southern coast beaches.

Formerly, New Caledonian Fairy Terns were recorded in Australia only from measurements of carcasses blown into Queensland shores following cyclones. In 2006, with the help of ornithological expert Mike Carter, birds with newly fledged young were identified on East Diamond Islet, near Lihou Reef National Nature Reserve. The find was published in the journal Australian Field Ornithology in 2007.

Lihou Reef is one of Australia’s largest nature reserves, covering an area of 8,440 km2: that’s about three times the size of the Australian Capital Territory. The last bird expedition, 25 years ago, reported Little Terns breeding on its sandy islands. Little Terns are similar to Fairy Terns but normally found inshore. So much so, reports in the 1960s caused CSIRO scientists to say that “the nesting of the species some 400 miles east of the Queensland coast could be exceptional”. Little Terns were reported as early as 1922 on Willis Island, elsewhere in the Coral Sea. It was just by chance that this long-standing myth was laid to rest in 2006, with the discovery of Fairy Terns, not Little Terns, in an unprotected part of the Coral Sea just a few tens of miles outside Lihou Reef.

New Caledonian Fairy Terns are descended from the extremely rare New Zealand Fairy Tern and all three forms are genetically distinct and completely isolated. The New Caledonian Ornithological Society believes “drastic conservation measures are needed for the New Caledonian Fairy Tern”. Commenting on the discovery of birds at Lihou Reef, Nicolas Barré, said ” it would be great if a subpopulation can establish somewhere out of the “official” range.

Fairy Tern may be one of the most significant species in the Coral Sea but because of threats to it in New Caledonia, it is also an important flagship species for the Western Pacific. It may once have occurred throughout the Coral Sea. Perhaps it still does? If this internationally important discovery can be made in just a short trip, what else could there be to find?

A second expedition is planned for December 2009, with specific focus on gathering more information on this new bird for Australia. For more information or to support the expedition, contact Simon Mustoe (simonmustoe@ecology-solutions.com.au / +61405 220830).

Fairy Tern - BirdLife Species Factsheet: http://www.birdlife.org/datazone/species/index.html?action=SpcHTMDetails.asp&sid=3281&m=0

Carter, M. & Mustoe, S. (2007) Another Form of Fairy Tern Sterna nereis Breeding in Australian Territory. Australian Field Ornithology, 24, 167-79.

Spaggiari, J., Barre, N., Franceschi-Baudat, J. & Borsa, P. (2007). New Caledonian Seabirds. In Compendium of Marine Species of New Caledonia (eds C.E. Payri & B. Forges), pp. 415-28. IRD, Nouméa. <http://www.ird.nc/biodec/downloads/Compendium/Version%20v%E9rrouill%E9e/Spaggiari-Barre-Baudat-Bor-v.pdf>