17 November 2005

The exceptional start to summer has led to an earlier than usual nesting season for Fiordland's endangered takahe.

Department of Conservation staff are predicting an excellent year ahead for takahe breeding and, thanks to the support of Mitre 10's sponsorship, the rearing unit at Burwood near Te Anau will have the capacity to cope.

DOC Takahe Programme Manager Dave Crouchley said the sponsorship will allow for an extra staff member to be employed over the busiest months, a new incubator to be installed and a new holding pen is in the process of being built.

“This will provide a permanent boost to the units annual production” Mr Crouchley said. “The effects of this investment by Mitre 10 will be ongoing and benefit the Takahe Recovery Plan for many years to come”.

Over the past 10 years the unit has reared on average 15 chicks a year. With this increase in capacity the aim is to rear over 20 a year from now on.

The takahe team have started their spring search for nests in the Murchison Mountains, discovering some chicks had already hatched. A good number of nests have been found so far and some eggs and chicks removed from each.

“In cases where the two eggs had already hatched we removed one chick to rear at Burwood,” Mr Crouchley said. “Takahe pairs find the demands of one chick high so it is not uncommon to loose the second chick”.

Last week seven chicks were taken to Burwood and five eggs laid by Burwood pairs hatched successfully. This week the success continues with another three chicks and three eggs collected from the wild and taken to Burwood for rearing.

“It looks like we will see more than 20 chicks reared this season” Mr Crouchley said.

The mild winter and spring weather has also led to predictions of a mast seeding year for the tussock - takahe's favourite delicacy. Heavy seeding is evident and from past records this has had a positive effect on breeding pairs with more chicks hatching in the wild.

The following season however a higher level of predators such as stoats can be expected so the Takahe team will be putting to test the effectiveness of their extensive trapping programme.

ENDS

For further information please contact Dave Crouchley at the Department of Conservation, Tel: +64 3 249 7921;

Email:  dcrouchley@doc.govt.nz

• The support from Mitre 10 staff and customers across 123 retail outlets for this takahe sponsorship has been overwhelming

• The link to the Takahe through Sophie, a Southland school girl, has created a real impact with school children everywhere - now they understand they can make a difference.

• Children have been flooding their local Mitre 10 stores with art competition entries – close to 70,000 entries have been received in total.

• The Mitre 10 head office in Auckland has more Takahe pictures than anyone could believe

• This sponsorship has been facilitated by the New Zealand National Parks and Conservation Foundation

Find out more about the conservation of Takahe.