Fairy terns are faring less well in the east, mainly due to higher populations of people along the coast.<\/p>\n
As a beach-nesting bird, fairy terns often lay their eggs on wide sandy beaches next to clear blue water \u2013 exactly the sort of places people enjoy for recreation, Greenwell says. The overlap puts the birds and their offspring at risk from people, cars, foxes and other predators, as well as weather events like storm surges.<\/p>\n
They lay their eggs directly on to the ground, she says, and the eggs take 21 days to hatch.<\/p>\n
In Victoria, there are only about 150 birds left, Purnell says, a situation made worse by the few reliable nesting sites. The floating nest site at Avalon is intended as a safe haven.<\/p>\n
But attracting the birds to the purpose-built pontoon requires an element of subterfuge. Fairy terns usually rely on the presence of other fairy terns to see if a site is any good.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf they\u2019re flying over, they see one of their buddies or a pair of buddies already sitting there, they\u2019re likely to jump on it,\u201d Purnell says.<\/p>\n
Using cadmium yellow for the legs and bill, surf mist for their backs and black for their hoods, Purnell has painted a set of 3D-printed fairy tern decoys, randomly placing them in pairs to create the illusion of birds already using the site.<\/p>\n Do birds know the models are fake?<\/p>\n \u201cI think they\u2019re pretty convinced,\u201d he says. \u201cI had cameras on them \u2013 you could see the other birds\u2019 reactions to them.<\/p>\n \u201cThe ravens would attack them. They got right up in their face, thought that they were real and were looking around for chicks. We had a heron come in and knock one over.\u201d<\/p>\n To add to the conceit, Purnell broadcasts fairy tern courtship calls from the onsite cameras \u2013 another ruse designed to attract passing birds.<\/p>\n It might seem like an unusual strategy, but Greenwell says the approach \u2013 which scientists call social facilitation \u2013 has been used for seabird restoration all around the world, with many examples where it has been hugely successful.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s used to encourage birds back to sites where they have formerly nested, or it can be used on artificial sites that we\u2019ve created, as a method to encourage them to a potentially safe area.\u201d<\/p>\n The floating nest site, supported by the Corangamite Catchment Management Authority and the Victorian government, is just one way to help the birds. Beachgoers can make simple changes to protect the eggs and chicks during spring and summer \u2013 like not driving on the beach, keeping dogs on a lead and staying away from nesting areas.<\/p>\n \u201cFairy terns, as a beach-nesting coastal seabird, cannot thrive unless we have the community on board because of where they nest,\u201d Greenwell says.<\/p>\n