Weka capture

Forest and Bird, Volume 23, Issue 1, 1 February 1992, Page 5

Weka capture

Ann Graeme

DAWN ON the Mansion House lawn on Kawau Island was the unlikely backdrop for the capture of North Island wekas for Forest and Bird’s captive breeding project (see Branching Out in the last issue). This programme, in collaboration with the Department of Conservation and sponsored by Trilogy Business Systems, is an attempt to reverse the recent marked decline of this subspecies. The team of DoC and Forest and Bird workers quickly learnt that a bird in the hand is definitely worth two in the bush and, furthermore, it had to catch the right birds. For the breeding project they wanted juveniles independent of their parents. Juvenile birds are expected to adjust most readily to captivity, and their removal will not disrupt the breeding adult community on the island. The young wekas were soft and silky to touch, their plumage speckled chestnut and black with slate grey under-parts. However, they had to be admired and measured suspended head downwards while a very tight grasp was kept of the legs, as they proved capable of escaping in the least expected direction. The first morning seven juveniles were caught, and

the team was elated. Then the going got tougher. The quota of young males was filled, but the females were more elusive, and the pesky adult males were caught again and again, in search of the fish used as bait in the traps. It was thanks to the skills of DoC Officer Paul Jansen, Tony Beauchamp’s dexterity with his snare, and the enthusiasm and perseverance of the Forest and Bird volunteers, that the team left the island with fourteen juvenile wekas, only one female short of the target.

The wekas were taken to the Otorohanga Kiwi House, where they stayed a few days to settle down. Then each Kawau Island bird, accompanied by a captive-reared juvenile mate from the Kiwi House, was sent on the last leg of its journey, to the aviary of a Forest and Bird member licensed to keep and breed wekas. Stop Press: The good news is that two pairs are breeding and the first chicks are expected this month.