Shore Plover
Encyclopedia
Plover
Plovers are a widely distributed group of wading birds belonging to the subfamily Charadriinae. There are about 40 species in the subfamily, most of them called "plover" or "dotterel". The closely related lapwing subfamily, Vanellinae, comprises another 20-odd species.Plovers are found throughout...
endemic to New Zealand
New Zealand
New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...
. Its Māori
Maori language
Māori or te reo Māori , commonly te reo , is the language of the indigenous population of New Zealand, the Māori. It has the status of an official language in New Zealand...
name is Tuturuatu.
The Shore Dotterel is an endangered species
Endangered species
An endangered species is a population of organisms which is at risk of becoming extinct because it is either few in numbers, or threatened by changing environmental or predation parameters...
with a world population of around 200 birds. It once was found across the South Island
South Island
The South Island is the larger of the two major islands of New Zealand, the other being the more populous North Island. It is bordered to the north by Cook Strait, to the west by the Tasman Sea, to the south and east by the Pacific Ocean...
in New Zealand but became extinct there, probably due to the predations of introduced
Introduced species
An introduced species — or neozoon, alien, exotic, non-indigenous, or non-native species, or simply an introduction, is a species living outside its indigenous or native distributional range, and has arrived in an ecosystem or plant community by human activity, either deliberate or accidental...
cat
Feral cat
A feral cat is a descendant of a domesticated cat that has returned to the wild. It is distinguished from a stray cat, which is a pet cat that has been lost or abandoned, while feral cats are born in the wild; the offspring of a stray cat can be considered feral if born in the wild.In many parts of...
s and rat
Rat
Rats are various medium-sized, long-tailed rodents of the superfamily Muroidea. "True rats" are members of the genus Rattus, the most important of which to humans are the black rat, Rattus rattus, and the brown rat, Rattus norvegicus...
s. It survived on one island, Rangatira
South East Island/Rangatira
South East Island/Rangatira is the third largest island in the Chatham Islands chain, and covers an area of . It is located east of New Zealand's South Island...
, in the Chatham Islands
Chatham Islands
The Chatham Islands are an archipelago and New Zealand territory in the Pacific Ocean consisting of about ten islands within a radius, the largest of which are Chatham Island and Pitt Island. Their name in the indigenous language, Moriori, means Misty Sun...
, from where it has been introduced to other offshore islands in the Chathams (Mangere Island
Mangere Island
Mangere Island is part of the Chatham Islands archipelago, located east of New Zealand's South Island and has an area of . The island lies off the west coast of Pitt Island, south-east of the main settlement in the Chathams, Waitangi, on Chatham Island....
) and near the North Island
North Island
The North Island is one of the two main islands of New Zealand, separated from the much less populous South Island by Cook Strait. The island is in area, making it the world's 14th-largest island...
.
A number of captive-reared juvenile Shore Dotterel were moved to Mana Island
Mana Island, New Zealand
Mana Island is the smaller of two islands that lie off the southwest coast of the North Island of New Zealand . The island’s name is an abbreviation of Te Mana o Kupe, "the mana of Kupe"....
, off Wellington's westcoast, between March and May 2007, as part of a Department of Conservation plan to ensure their long-term survival. The Shore Dotterel surprised conservationists by breeding within months of their release. In February 2008, twenty more shore plover were released on Mana Island
Mana Island, New Zealand
Mana Island is the smaller of two islands that lie off the southwest coast of the North Island of New Zealand . The island’s name is an abbreviation of Te Mana o Kupe, "the mana of Kupe"....
. The small flock there is monitored by the Department of Conservation, members of the Ornithological Society and Friends of Mana Island.