Success of Weka Project

Forest and Bird, Issue 310, 1 November 2003, Page 6

Success of Weka Project

ANN GRAEME

he last North Island weka to be raised by Forest and Bird’s wekabreeding team have been released at Russell, Bay of Islands. The 21 adults and juveniles join 17 birds released last year in a bid to reintroduce this threatened sub-species of weka to Northland. The 2500-hectare Russell peninsula has been cleared of most of its possums, rats, stoats, feral cats and goats. Poisoning is keeping these pests at low levels and reinvasion is now restricted by a predator fence at the neck of the peninsula near Opua. Laurence Gordon, the man driving pest control for the Russell Landcare group, reports seeing chicks and says that weka

calls are so numerous that they interfere with his kiwi call monitoring! This suggests that the weka are going to do well. Forest and Bird’s wekabreeding project was established 12 years ago in response to the catastrophic decline in North Island weka in its last stronghold around Gisborne. Over the years Forest and Bird members have reared nearly 200 young weka. The initial releases in the Karangahake Gorge failed after ferrets destroyed the fledgling weka population. Subsequently captive-bred weka were released on to Pakatoa Island in the Hauraki Gulf near Auckland, and then to Whanganui Island, near Coromandel. Both island

populations are growing and the Pakatoa Island birds are so prolific that they can provide a source of young birds for future releases. With ‘wild’ weka now available for reintroductions, the work of the weka breeders has come to an end. The project has involved dozens of Forest and Bird members. Although the bird-breeding programme

has now ceased, Coromandel Branch members continue to monitor the Whanganui Island weka. Our members can take pride in contributing to the successful establishment of new North Island weka populations, and in raising public awareness and empathy for this engaging native bird.