atoll fern
baby tern on a branch

Help Tetiaroa’s Baby Birds Take Flight

Giving Tuesday 2025

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Giving tuesday 2025

Every year, around 20,000 baby seabirds should hatch across the motus of

For years, most never made it. Yellow crazy ants swarmed their nest. Rats devoured their eggs. In some colonies, entire generations were wiped out.

But everything changed thanks to the Tetiaroa Atoll Restoration Program (TARP). The yellow crazy ants are gone. The nests are safe.

And for the first time in years, seabird chicks are finally surviving, even thriving.

This Giving Tuesday: Help us protect what we’ve fought to restore.

Baby noddy before ant eradication (2020)

Baby noddy after ant and rat eradication (2023)

Tetiaroa Atoll Restoration Program (TARP)

Launched in 2018, TARP’s mission is to restore the natural balance of Tetiaroa by protecting biodiversity and reestablishing the link between land and ocean.

Why this matters

The natural balance of the atoll is threatened

Invasive species like rats and yellow crazy ants once threatened seabirds, turtles, crabs, and coral reefs.

Seabirds are key to a healthy atoll

Their guano (nutrient-rich droppings) fertilizes coral reefs with nutrients critical for reef recovery. When you save seabirds, you help restore the coral reefs they depend on.

Healthy Islands, Healthy Reefs, Healthy Oceans

A restored atoll is more resilient to climate change, and Tetiaroa is proof that island restoration works serving as a model for island restoration everywhere.

TARP officially awarded the “La Mer en Commun” label as part of the Year of the Ocean initiative by the Government of French Polynesia, for its contribution to: “Preserving coral reefs and the health of lagoons, sources of life, biodiversity, and community well-being.”

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La mer en commun logo
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brown booby with juvenile

Tetiaroa’s Seabird Comeback

Before TARP - The Challenge

Before TARP, many seabird colonies on Tetiaroa were collapsing.

  • On some motus, brown noddy chicks almost completely disappeared, with many dying or suffering from deformations from continuous exposure to formic acid sprayed by yellow crazy ants.
  • Masked boobies were never seen on Tetiaroa until just a few months before the rat eradication, when one pair attempted to nest for the first time. Their first eggs were likely lost to rats.
  • On motus with black rats, very few white tern nests were present (probably fewer than 30), as most eggs were lost before hatching.
  • In total, 9 out of 12 motus were infested with rats, and 4 motus were overrun by yellow crazy ants, threatening not only seabirds but also crabs, sea turtles, and many other native species that make up Tetiaroa’s fragile ecosystem.

After TARP - The Transformation

Since the launch of the Tetiaroa Atoll Restoration Program (TARP), hope is returning.

 

  • masked booby and chick

    Masked Booby

    1 chick successfully raised each year since rats were eradicated in 2022.

  • white tern chick

    White tern

    460 nests monitored in 2022; hatching success 77%, fledging success 90% and 2.6× more nests on motu where black rats were removed.

  • noddy chick

    Brown noddy

    502 eggs monitored in 2022; about 50% hatched.  2.8× more nests one year after yellow crazy ant removal on previously ant-invaded motu.

  • motu from above

    A symbolic milestone in the atoll’s restoration

    To date, all previously rat-invaded motu have received at least one full rat treatment, and the four motus infested by yellow crazy ants have also been completely treated!

Each chick that takes flight marks a victory, proof that when nature is protected, it recovers. But this recovery is fragile. A few rat sightings have already been reported on one of the motu, even after eradication, and a new intervention will soon be needed. Ongoing monitoring, nest protection, and pest management aren’t optional; they’re critical to safeguarding the next generation of seabirds and the coral reefs that depend on them.

Tetiaroa is showing that island restoration works and in a world facing climate and biodiversity crises, it stands as a powerful model of what’s possible.

Discover How Tetiaroa’s Seabirds Returned

Today, we’re excited to share the full story of the TARP program and its impact on Tetiaroa’s seabirds.

With the expertise of Simon Ducatez, researcher at IRD (SECOPOL), and Jayna DeVore, researcher at UPF (SECOPOL), go behind the scenes in the field to discover what happened, what has changed, and why these chicks are so important for the entire atoll, from the soil to the reef.

Watch the full story and see the recovery unfold.

YouTube_Vimeo URL

What your donation makes possible

  • measuring an egg

    $50

    Help our scientists monitor a beach of seabird nests for a day, giving chicks a better chance to survive.

  • chick and egg

    $200

    Protect a motu (a small island) for a full day, of monitoring nests and chicks.

  • a family of crested terns on the beach

    $500

    Help us monitor a small colony for a week, ensuring chicks can grow safely.

  • setting up a bird-monitoring camera

    $1,000

    Support cameras tracking a nest for a month, providing crucial data to protect chicks.

  • seabirds in flight

    $5,000

    Fund one month of full monitoring for an entire species in a sector, about 25% of a motu, helping dozens of chicks survive.

  • motu

    $10,000

    Protect an entire colony for a month, securing the future of many seabird chicks.

Your impact doubles today!

      

Seabirds don’t wait. Coral reefs don’t wait and neither can we.

Our Board gets this, and they’re stepping up to match every gift made on
Giving Tuesday, up to $20,000.


That means your $100 becomes $200, your $500 becomes $1,000.
They’re challenging us, and you, to double our impact for the island.

Your donation works twice as hard today.

Join us this Giving Tuesday.
When you give, life takes flight.

$19,811 raised

Goal: $20,000*

 

*This amount represents 18% of the 2026 Rat Monitoring & Control program and 100% of the 2026 Yellow Crazy Ant follow-up program.