00:00So little terns are a species that come from north in Asia down to Australia during the
00:12summer months.
00:13They come here in round about October and then they breed on our beaches and by the
00:19end of March they head back home.
00:25Some actually stay locally and they're this magnificent little bird that they nest on
00:32some of the most vulnerable places on our beaches in fact, Joe, and they're very selective
00:37about where they nest.
00:39They require shell grit and sand that matches the camouflage on their eggs and the camouflage
00:47on the chicks' bodies.
00:49So they're very selective about where they nest.
00:52Yeah, and like you say, as we're seeing these images of them and they look so vulnerable.
00:58They just fly down onto the beach.
01:00Do they kind of go up in the dunes a bit rather than down close to the water?
01:05Well, they can go up into the dunes, but they can also be very close to the water.
01:11And in fact, so much so during the East Coast lows, and we saw that with tropical cyclone
01:17Alfred, that Alfred's big seas up at Harrington overtopped some nests and some of the nests
01:24were lost due to the big waves.
01:26Okay, so what's happened with numbers over the recent decades?
01:30So we've got a steady increase, which is incredibly reassuring, Joe.
01:35We're not out of the woods yet though, because the birds are still endangered.
01:40They're listed as endangered in New South Wales and they've just been listed as vulnerable
01:45federally.
01:47We have to keep our eye on the threats for these little birds and some of the threats
01:50include accidentally stepping on them because they are so well camouflaged.
01:57So if there are fenced areas, please keep out of the fenced areas.
02:03Domestic dogs, you know, only walk your dogs on areas that are on-leash areas or authorised
02:11dog areas, unauthorised four-wheel driving.
02:16Some of the little turns can succumb to fishing line entanglements, which is quite common.
02:22So we've really got to be careful about our rubbish as well.
02:25What do you put the gradual increase down to?
02:29It's got to do with an increased effort.
02:32So for example, this year we've had over 5,000 observations.
02:36We've got volunteers, we've got local councils becoming involved.
02:42We've got national parks involved through the Saving Our Species program, providing funding
02:46to help with the management of these sites.
02:50And one of the top things in my view are volunteers.
02:54You know, we've got volunteers, for example, there's one site in The Hunter where some volunteers,
03:00they jump in their kayaks, paddle out to Corrie Island every week and count the little
03:05turns on our behalf.
03:07And the beauty about the counts is that the information they're collecting is very, very
03:13good information.
03:15And Joe, you can't make good decisions without good information.
03:18And the volunteers across the state and our staff are collecting that information to help
03:26good decision making.
03:27And so how heartened are you about this latest season?
03:30Oh, we're pretty happy.
03:32I mean, look, we're very buoyed and we're very happy for the volunteers as well.
03:39And we hope that we can continue this effort.
03:42And in fact, we need to.
03:44We need to continually manage the threat.
03:46And the thing about this year, we've got 24 sites across the state.
03:50Some of those sites had really good fledgling, like, for example, at Karagi Point at the entrance
03:57where 45% of the state, where other sites had only one fledgling.
04:02And that one fledgling is still important because these animals, these birds are still heading
04:07towards extinction unless we act to address those threats.
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