Sawtell residents celebrate as Little Tern colony flourishes

Sawtell’s treasured colony of Little Tern shorebirds has gone from record hatches to mass dispatches - much to the delight of locals.

A Little Tern chick at Sawtell. Picture: Anna Lloyd

An endangered population of shorebirds south of Coffs Harbour must have got wind that international flights are back on board - because they’ve upped and awayed.

The steadfast Little Tern breeding colony at Sawtell has enjoyed a bumper season this summer with an estimated 50 or more chicks successfully fledging at the site.

The birds are now winging it to the northern hemisphere - an annual migration of some 6000 kilometres.

“Migratory Little Terns returned to the regionally significant shorebird breeding site on the sand spit within Bongil Bongil National Park, south of Sawtell Headland, in December,” National Parks and Wildlife Service area manager Glenn Storrie said.

“They were joined this year by three breeding pairs of endangered Pied Oystercatchers and a rare event of a pair of endangered Sooty Oystercatchers setting up a nest on the sandy beach.

“An occasional pair of endangered Beach Stone Curlews were also seen on the Spit but no breeding activity occurred.”

To ensure it was secret bird business, national parks staff fenced off the breeding site and posted signs asking visitors to stay clear.

“Over 700 metres of temporary fencing was required to mark out and fence the vulnerable area,” Mr Storrie said.

“We were expecting a very busy summer with visitors to the national park due to Covid impacts restricting wider travel, but the big wet over the Christmas/New Year kept some people at home, and this consequentially benefited the nesting birds by limiting human disturbances.”

The Little Tern success story at Sawtell wasn’t mirrored at nearby Nambucca - as heavy rain and huge tides wiped out the nests at the river mouth.