Dotterel post-breeding season count
- Apr 6
- 2 min read
On Sunday 22 March, a post-breeding season count was carried out in Whangamatā on behalf of Birds New Zealand (South Auckland).
Alongside the dotterel count, a wider shorebird survey was also carried out, giving us a useful snapshot of birdlife around the harbour after the breeding season.
Dotterel results
This year’s count recorded:
83 Northern New Zealand dotterel
48 Banded dotterel
roosting along the Whangamatā shoreline.
We now have four years of post-breeding count data:
Year | Northern New Zealand dotterel | Banded dotterel |
2023 | 86 | 40 |
2024 | 108 | 0 |
2025 | 121 | 0 |
2026 | 83 | 48 |
What the numbers tell us so far
With only four years of data, it’s still too early to draw firm conclusions or call these “trends” in a scientific sense. What we can say is that numbers vary noticeably from year to year, particularly for Banded dotterels.
That variation is not unusual. Shorebird counts can be influenced by a range of factors, including:
timing of migration and post-breeding movement
weather and tidal conditions on the day
changes in where birds choose to feed or roost
annual breeding success and survival
So rather than treating any one year as a signal of increase or decline, the value is really in building a consistent long-term picture over time.
Across the wider Coromandel region
Wider shorebird count
The wider count also recorded a range of species using the harbour and surrounding shoreline areas, including:
Northern New Zealand dotterel – 83
Banded dotterel – 48
Pied oystercatcher – 106
Variable oystercatcher – 120
Pied stilt – 77
Red-billed gull – 104
Black-backed gull – 21
Pied shag – 5
Little shag – 4
Kingfisher – 1
White-faced heron – 3
These counts help show that the harbour continues to support a wide mix of coastal birdlife after breeding season, not just nesting species.
Why these counts matter
A single count doesn’t tell us everything — but repeated in the same season, year after year, it becomes much more useful.
Over time, this kind of monitoring can help us better understand:
which species are regularly using the harbour
how bird use shifts between years
whether any long-term changes begin to emerge
where ongoing monitoring and protection effort is most useful
In other words, this is less about making big claims now, and more about building good local knowledge properly.
And that's what I'm hoping to build.
— Corinne Bowie
Biodiversity Advocate
