Greater crested tern

Are you able to speak to where there are particular hotspots across the country now and which particular species are being hardest hit? So the species

that we've seen primarily hit so far are the greater crested terns.

And that's been big outbreaks in South Australia and also parts of Victoria.

And there have been cases popping up elsewhere, also in Greater Crested Terns, but they make up the sort of lion's share of cases at the moment.

And that is likely to, that situation is likely to evolve as we go into the breeding season of many other species.

We might see that there are more of these outbreaks that happen in other species.

But as the virus continues to establish itself in Australia, It might move more towards more ducks, for example, which are more likely to move nomadically in response to what the environment is like, how much rainfall there has been in various areas.

And that might mean that we'll see further cases in a lot of other different species.

Friends of Shorebirds South East believe the spread has slowed in recent weeks, but greater crested tern populations have been severely impacted.

Secretary Maureen Christie explains.

the population of crested terns has been decimated.

It's very hard to know when you haven't got a count for a before and after comparison, but we did have a count of the crested tern flock that normally roosts between Pelican Point and the lighthouse at Carpenter Rocks.

And before birds flew, there were roughly 1,000 birds, perhaps more, but, you know, around about 1,000.

And probably a week ago, I went out and did a count, and I had 110.

So the few remaining birds have probably got some immunity and will probably keep them.

At Port Macdonald, you can tell, although we didn't have a count, actual count of the number of crested terns that use the breakwater at Port Macdonald, you could tell when you went into the town, you could just see that the end of the breakwater was white with birds.