Adult New Zealand fairy tern/tara iti (Sternula nereis davisae) foraging trips to estuarine feeding territories during chick provisioning

The New Zealand fairy tern/tara iti (Sternula nereis davisae) (hereafter; tara iti) is Aotearoa’s rarest indigenous breeding bird. Knowledge of tara iti foraging behaviour is limited. We used coordinated observations of adult movements between nesting sites and foraging territories to quantify foraging trips during chick provisioning at Mangawhai, Northland, in the 2021/22 breeding season. Complete foraging trips (n = 88) of five females and four males were observed. Males (n = 60 trips) underto