The final actor in the food chain. Many wading birds such as this white faced heron have as their staple diet the very same postage stamp-sized fish that have been nursed through to takable size on a diet of raw copepod. A study in Otago Harbour of Stewart Island shags has shown that one bird can eat as many as 340 young fish a day, of which a large proportion are flatfish. As this food chain demonstrates, the birds would not exist without any of the other elements they depend on — good reason for why we must guard against any reclamation or other major development in any part of the inlet, not just the reserve. Photo: David Cornick

Forest and Bird, Volume 17, Issue 3, 1 August 1986, Unnumbered Page

The final actor in the food chain. Many wading birds such as this white faced heron have as their staple diet the very same postage stamp--sized fish that have been nursed through to takable size on a diet of raw copepod. A study in Otago Harbour of Stewart Island shags has shown that one bird can eat as many as 340 young fish a day, of which a large proportion are flatfish. As this food chain demonstrates, the birds would not exist without any of the other elements they depend on — good reason for why we must guard against any reclamation or other major development in any part of the inlet, not just the reserve. Photo: David Cornick