One good fairy tern deserves another

One good tern deserves another – and that’s why we’re hatching and rearing tara iti!

Tara iti (New Zealand fairy tern) are New Zealand’s most endangered native bird. The current 2025-2026 breeding season marks the sixth year of the successful Department of Conservation and Auckland Zoo conservation recovery programme for tara iti with the goal to boost their breeding productivity, and therefore their wild population.

This work is crucial as fewer than 40 adult birds survive today. Over many generations tara iti adapted to nest and lay their eggs on low lying sand spits where extreme weather, introduced predators and human disturbances have impacted greatly on their survival. Some of these precious eggs are brought to the Zoo for incubation by DOC rangers where they are hatched and hand-reared by our bird keepers before being released to the wild.

The recovery programme is a critical part of a bigger DOC effort that involves habitat restoration, predator control, and advocacy, and the support of a broad range of organisations and individuals.

Follow along with our diary below to learn what it takes to conserve this species.

Watch our video from last season, detailing this process from start to finish.

18 December 2025

Tara iti breeding season has kicked off again!

We’re currently caring for six tara iti (New Zealand fairy tern) eggs in our dedicated bird incubation room at Auckland Zoo.

These eggs were rescued by DOC’s incredible tara iti rangers from Mangawhai ahead of bad weather approaching and to protect them from introduced predators. Once the eggs are carefully brought to the Zoo, they are placed inside temperature and humidity-controlled incubators and are weighed and candled (shining a bright light through the egg to look for developing blood vessels inside the shell) each day to track their development.

We are happy to report that two of the eggs have now hatched!

24 December 2025

More endangered tara iti chicks have hatched!

So far, six healthy chicks are in the process of being hand-reared by our expert bird keepers. These chicks range from 3 to 9 days old and are being cared for in a special incubation room at the Zoo.

Once hatched, the chicks are fed every 90 minutes for 12 hours each day – a huge commitment from our team over summer. 

In a few weeks, these tara iti chicks will be old enough to be released to a predator-free pen in the wild, where they’ll be monitored by DOC and Zoo staff as they learn to fly.

It’s early in the season so there’s still more mahi to come. We’ll keep you updated as this amazing conservation partnership progresses!

15 January 2026

Great news for the precious tara iti that have hatched in our care!

It’s been a few weeks of highly intensive work as our bird keepers hatched and hand-reared the initial group of six healthy chicks – which includes feeding these hungry and growing manu from 7am – 7pm each day!

Just last week, these tara iti were carefully transferred to a purpose-built predator-proof release site on the East Coast where they can be cared for by DOC, with assistance from our Zoo kaimahi. There, they’ll learn to perfect their flying and fishing skills before joining the wild population.

Since our last update, a second group of four precious eggs have arrived at the Zoo, as their nests were threatened by introduced predators. These eggs have now hatched and the chicks are growing each day.

29 January 2026

The tiny tara iti chicks have learnt to self-feed! 

Essential learning for life in the wild, the tara iti (New Zealand fairy tern) have been learning to fish for their own kai from water-filled trays set up by our bird keepers.

At the Zoo, these chicks, who range in age from 16 - 18 days old, eat up to 135% of their body weight over 7-9 feeds per day, depending on their age.

This is the second cohort of healthy chicks that were successfully hatched and hand-reared at the Zoo from eggs collected by Department of Conservation rangers. These chicks have now gone on to be released to DOC's purpose-built predator-proof release site on the East Coast. This brings the total of Zoo-bred chicks released this season to 10!

At DOC’s release site, they’ll learn to perfect their flying and fishing skills before joining the adult population who flock there.

24 February 2026

These chicks have flown the nest – well, almost!

The tara iti (New Zealand fairy tern) chicks that were hand-reared at Auckland Zoo, in a joint partnership with our amazing colleagues at the Department of Conservation, were recently released to a predator-free release site on the East Coast.

DOC’s release site is the perfect place for the chicks to learn to fly and fish under natural conditions, while being monitored by Zoo and DOC rangers. Many of the chicks that were released here have been seen spending time with wild tara iti adults on the beach and have been learning how to fish from the nearby estuary.

Similarly to last year’s cohort, these chicks have been fitted with light-weight satellite tags that can be tracked by our keepers and DOC rangers using their phones. So far, from this data they can see that the eldest two chicks have been flying further afield, with one bird making it to Kaipara and back. This is where the juveniles will join the adult birds as part of their winter migration.

Zoo and DOC staff continue to be in the field each day monitoring their progress, and so far we’re really pleased to see these positive signs.

Thank you to our sponsors at Mazda NZ for driving our tara iti fieldwork by providing two dedicated vehicles for our bird team to use throughout the tara iti breeding season.