Bird habitat

South Head Beach represents an important resting site for Little Terns during their annual migration between breeding and non-breeding areas.

Little Terns using South Head Beach include breeding birds from east coast, Australia during Austral summer and breeding birds from Asia during Austral winter.

During migration Little Terns often stop at South Head Beach to rest and replenish their energy, sometimes spending the entire summer at the beach and Tweed River estuary. Here, they may be seen roosting in mixed flocks with other terns just above the tide line or foraging for small fish in the surf zone.

The local breeding population of the Little Tern is listed as endangered in New South Wales and vulnerable, nationally. The endangered status is due to low breeding success and high level of disturbance at coastal breeding and resting sites.

Little Terns roost and breed in exposed locations on sand spits or ocean beaches. Nests, often positioned just above the high water mark can be washed away in high seas, covered by wind blown sand, trampled by humans or the eggs eaten by dogs or foxes.

Impacts on roosting birds occur through continual disturbance of resting flocks by humans and dogs. Regular disturbance can lead to increased energy expenditure, affecting some bird’s ability to migrate.

Activities, generally regarded as normal beach fun, can have a significant effect on these small summer visitors.

You can help Little Terns by reducing disturbance to resting flocks and in particular keeping dogs restrained in the vicinity of these flocks.

These simple actions on your behalf will benefit Little Terns and improve the value of South Head Beach for this rare summer visitor.