KUKU

Forest and Bird, Volume 19, Issue 3, 1 August 1988, Page 6

KUKU

by Forest & Bird Conservation Officer

Mark Bellingham

Lonely Kaumatua of the Chatham Island forests.

flock of twelve over-sized pigeons anded in a karamu tree. So this was kuku the Chatham Island pigeon possibly New Zealand’s rarest bird and a quarter of the total population was in one tree! This was my first encounter with the Chatham Island pigeon in December 1980 in the Tuku Valley. At that stage the rarest bird was the black robin which now numbers 74, but no similar help has come to the aid of the Chatham Island pigeon and they have continued to decline. Kuku live mainly in privately-owned forest remnants on Chatham Island. Their fate hangs in the balance as these forests decline with stock browsing. But their predicament has worsened because the

Department of Conservation has no advocacy plan for protecting the Chatham Island forests, nor any funding to carry out any work to rescue kuku. Kuku is a subspecies of the New Zealand pigeon. It is even larger than its mainland cousin, has a purple tinge on the neck and breast, slightly greyer plumage and a colourful bill. When forest covered most of the Chatham Islands in pre-European times, it was widespread. But now kuku is only found in the forest remnants on Chatham Island. The trees that provide most food for these pigeons are kopi (karaka), karamu (Coprosma chathamica), matipo (Myrsine chathamica) , hoho (Pseudopanax chatham-

ica) and mahoe (Hymenanthera chathamica). These tree species provide a yearround fruit supply, and are supplemented by leaves and leaf shoots from a range of plants. Berries of the pohuehue vine also form part of the pigeon’s diet. Unfortunately, most of the natural habitats remaining on Chatham Island are Dracophyllum forest and shrublands and extensive induced bracken and rush moorlands. These habitats have few food plants for kuku. The lowland northern Chatham Island was once covered in extensive kopi and ribbonwood forest famous for their Moriori tree carvings. These trees produce vast amounts of fruit and support a diverse sub-canopy of karamu, matipo and hoho. This is prime pigeon habitat, and the birds migrate from their refugia on southern Chatham Island to the kopi remnants at the height of the fruiting season. From 1981, Chatham Island pigeon had been one of the NZ Wildlife Service’s highest priorities for research — but none was carried out. Under the Department of Conservation research priorities it is a B priority (of medium importance nationally and regionally.) This means that it is highly unlikely that research will be carried out for some time. But the main problem is advocacy while various government Officials have trekked backwards and forwards between Mangere/South East Islands and New Zealand, the conservation crisis on Chatham Island has been neglected. The Department of Conservation has tended to perpetuate this pattern. The key to saving kuku and the forested habitats in Chatham Island lies with the owners of these forest areas. But they are constantly discouraged from helping to save their own heritage. Many are aware of the pigeon’s plight but do not realise how urgent the problem is. If they do realise, they are unsure of the best way to secure the bird's habitat. Some landowners are Keen to fence off forest areas and protect them, but the QEIlI National Trust doesn’t operate in the Chathams and in the past the Lands and Survey Department never allocated funds for protecting private land there either. The new Conservation Department has not changed this deplorable state of affairs a local farmer trying to get assistance to fence his kopi forest was turned down by DoC and is now being assisted by Forest and Bird. What is the future for this rare bird? If Government conservation agencies continue to do nothing, the Chatham Island pigeon may be extinct next century. In the meantime, we will have little to boast about when ornithologists gather for the 1990 International Ornithological Congress in New Zealand.