Endangered
Black-fronted Tern
Chlidonias albostriatus
The black-fronted tern, sea martin, ploughboy, or tarapiroe, is a medium-small tern endemic to New Zealand.
Appearance
During the non-breeding season, the black cap recedes and becomes flecked with white.
Adults measure 28–30 cm in length, with a 65–72 cm wingspan and an average weight of 95 g.
Range and habitat
Within New Zealand, black-fronted terns are found from the southern tip of the North Island, and along much of the eastern South Island from Marlborough to Southland, and to Stewart Island. There is an outlying population along the Buller and upper Motueka Rivers in southern Nelson. The black-fronted tern, sea martin, ploughboy, or tarapiroe, is a medium-small tern endemic to New Zealand.
Black-fronted terns can be found in coastal habitats from the southern tip of the North Island to the eastern South Island as well as Stewart Island. Their breeding range is restricted to the South Island, where they will form breeding colonies on braided river islands.
Pins are Wikidata “endemic to” fields. Orange dots, when present, are GBIF occurrence tiles — survey bias included.
Breeding
The breeding range is restricted to the eastern South Island. The breeding season for black-fronted terns falls in summer between the months of October and February.
During this time, black-fronted terns will migrate inland to semi-permanent islands on braided river systems to form colonies of one to over 79 breeding pairs. Black-fronted terns, like many other New Zealand bird species, nest on the ground.
In crisis
The species is globally and nationally endangered, due to its small and declining national population. Black-fronted terns are vulnerable to a range of threats, among them predation by introduced mammals, habitat loss (land use changes and weed encroachment), resource abstraction (gravel and water), human disturbance, and climate change. Black-fronted terns are particularly vulnerable to a number of threats among them predation by introduced mammals, habitat loss (land use changes and weed encroachment), resource abstraction (gravel and water), human disturbance, and climate change.
Conservation methods involve predator control, habitat enhancement (modification of river islands and weed control), and the use of chick shelters.
Black-fronted Tern is Endangered on this catalog because that is the IUCN category stored on Wikidata. Confirm the official criteria and any later count on iucnredlist.org.
Sources
Written for this catalog from the English Wikipedia article on Black-fronted Tern, Wikidata item Q998588. Family and order context is original field-guide writing about the group, not a copied assessment of this one species. Wikipedia text is CC BY-SA. Not an IUCN assessment. Counts, when quoted, can change — confirm them on the recovery programme and on iucnredlist.org.
