Spur-Winged Plovers are one of New Zealand Aviation’s highest risk species. They are dense birds weighing around 360 grams, although they are normally described to group in pairs, in many parts of New Zealand they form large flocks. They are aggressive and persistent and very difficult to manage.
Spur-Winged Plovers bread around June-November, they lay 3-4 eggs that are incubated for around 31 days. Chicks hatch and are precocial meaning they can walk instantly. Birds are fully fledged at 6-7 weeks and at breeding age at 1 year. Spur-winged plovers have been seen to live for 17 years and 2 months.
These characteristics make these species very successful breeders creating further risk for Aviation and Airport operations.
Recently there has been increased activity observed at Whenuapai Airbase. This activity consists of courtship like behavior where large groups are coming together to pair up causing erratic and dangerous behavior. It is expected that this behavior should be present for the next few months as birds pair up, breed and begin to incubate their eggs. We expect our strike risk to increase during this time and are doing all we can to be present on the group to reduce risk to active runways.
More information on Spur-Winged Plover behavior is beneficial for airports to obtain in the future as more land development takes pace in New Zealand and open land spaces become less available for wildlife. Whenuapai will be conducting a small study for a 12 month period, looking at Plover numbers, management techniques and their response to these techniques.
