A heart-soaring success story marks the end of the Shoalhaven south coast shorebird breeding season with a pair of endangered Pied Oystercatchers welcoming a new fledgling after three failed breeding attempts.
The devoted pair was first spotted at Shoalhaven Heads Spit in July by dedicated National Parks and Wildlife Service (NPWS) shorebird volunteers, who patiently monitored them as courtship displays began.
The bird's first three nesting attempts were sadly unsuccessful, with their eggs lost to raven and fox predation.
But the love birds persisted.
Five months after volunteers witnessed the start of this feathered love story, they were rewarded with the sight of a fluffy chick dutifully following its parents along the shoreline.
With an estimated 200 Pied Oystercatcher breeding pairs remaining in NSW, every chick matters. The hope is that this youngster will go on to become a parent itself in around five years' time.
The fledgling is one of 34 Pied Oystercatcher chicks to successfully mature this season along the Shoalhaven area, with the tiny town of Durras taking out the title of 'most successful' site.
Five Pied Oystercatcher chicks matured to fledglings on Durras' beaches, the highest number of fledglings ever recorded at this site.
Predation by both native and feral species continues to pose a real and dangerous threat to shorebirds every Summer, often occurring late at night or early dawn before beach patrols can begin.
Other threats are more manageable. All beach goers can take steps to minimise the loss of shorebird eggs and chicks, such as keeping dogs away from nesting areas, walking on the wet sand and respecting all shorebird signage.
Across the Shoalhaven area volunteers also recorded four Hooded Plover chicks and 60 Little Tern chicks successfully fledging, an encouraging boost for these threatened species.
