Rare native falcon bred

Press, 1 February 1986, Page 13

Rare native falcon bred

PA Napier Tiie: first native bush falcon to be bred in captivity is thriving more than a month after hatching. The chick, ;. which hatched early in December on Mr Rob Wheeldon’s property at Onekawa, represents the first, success in a threestage programme by the Raptor Association to save the bush falcon. The falcons, which live

in mountainous areas in the North Island and on the West Coast of the South Island, have become endangered in the last three years. Mr Wheeldon, the secretary of the Raptor Association, said man was the falcons’ worst enemy. “Man has knocked out the falcons’ habitat and shot most of the birds,” he said. In 1982, association members collected young male and female chicks

from both islands to start a breeding programme. The female chick in Mr Wheeldon’s back yard is the first offspring of those birds. Mr Wheeldon said the chick had adapted well to its man-made environment and would be flying in mid-February. It is being fed on dead mice, chicken and rabbits. He said the next stage of the programme would be colonising new areas for the birds.