Photos by Ruth Bollongino / Fern
Last week, the Janszoon Project reintroduced teal brown Pāteke ducks to Anchorage Bay in Abel Tasman National Park.
The last 21 of the more than 350 patke ducks have been released in Abel Tasman National Park, marking a four-year success story for the rare native birds.
The Janszoon Project, in collaboration with iwi, Abel Tasman Birdsong Trust and the Department of Conservation, has been releasing pāteke (teal) on Abel Tasman since 2017.
The juvenile birds, about five to six months old, were raised across the country before being controlled by the Isaac Wildlife and Conservation Trust in Canterbury, before being sent to Project Janszoon for release in their new home.
Ducks were once an abundant species of ducks across the country, but introduced predators such as cats and rodents significantly reduced their numbers, and are now only found on the South Island in Fiordland and, after their reintroduction, on Abel Tasman.
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Janszoon Project Director Bruce Vander Lee said its successful reintroduction to the park was based on the intense pest control efforts of DOC volunteers and staff, and now the birds were "exploding" into the surrounding areas.
Most of the releases had occurred in the north of the park, but the last and last release of 21 birds in Rākauroa (Torrent Bay) was intended to "anchor" a population further south.
BRADEN FASTIER / Things
Janszoon Project Director Bruce Vander Lee in Torrent Bay near the site of the last pāteke release in Abel Tasman National Park.
"They're not shy about moving," Vander Lee said.
"At least one, maybe two, have been seen as far away as Rabbit Island."
The reintroduction of kōrero to Abel Tasman began with the kaitiaki (guardian) of tāpeke, North Island iwi Ngātiwai, transferring guardianship of the birds to the rohe of Te Tauihu (top of the South Island) iwi Ngāti Rarua and Te Ātiawa who participated in the reintroduction process.
In 2017 it was planned to reintroduce some 300 pāteke into the zone (area), if the the initial introduction of 20 juvenile birds went well. Just over four years later, and with an unexpected extraordinary year in 2018Now 358 birds have been recovered.
It can be difficult to monitor pāteke populations, but monitoring cameras had seen from almost the beginning of the reintroduction program pairs of pāteke with chicks and fledglings, and as the years passed, more and more unbanded adults (born in the nature). with their own chicks.
Skara Bohny / Things
Wally Bruce and other volunteers carry the precious cargo (boxes of about four or five ducks) from the ship in Anchorage Bay for the last planned launch of pā ?? teke in Abel Tasman.
"If the numbers are what we think of, then we won't need to release more, and we just need to keep them protected from cats and stoats," Vander Lee said.
Much of that work is done by volunteers from the Abel Tasman Birdsong Trust. Volunteer coordinator Abby Butler said there were about 80 active volunteers monitoring the trap lines in the area every fortnight.
He said the number of pests trapped in the extensive network of voluntary traps was very low at this time, a good sign of the very low rat and stoat populations in the park.
Volunteers from the Birdsong Trust would also be checking out the temporary bird feeders installed for the released patke to help them get through as they get used to fending for themselves.
Darryl and Julie Thomas, residents of Torrent Bay since the 1970s, said the work done by volunteers from the Janszoon Project and the Birdsong Trust was enormous.
Skara Bohny / Things
Motueka student leaders removed the pateke from their boxes with the help of a DOC ranger. Livinya Jayasinghe and Mieke Rowling carried this box of four into the water to drop it.
“The kākā can be heard a lot now, they have started to spread their wings a little. There is a lot of tūī and weka, ”said Darryl.
"Some have become quite friendly, they will come flying to your side from the trees."
Julie said the birds were particularly noticeable first thing in the morning with the dawn chorus or sometimes before dawn.
Bruce Vander Lee said it felt “amazing” to be, potentially, nearing the end of pāteke's reintroduction journey.
Skara Bohny / Things
Each box had about four or five pāteke, and when they released them they hurried to swim through the bushes and hide. Birds are reserved by nature and are unlikely to be seen in the middle of the day, but can be seen at dusk.
Vander Lee said the birds were "secretive" and could be difficult to spot, but with a high and potentially increasing number, "people will see them and understand their conservation history."
"We see them moving around the park, moving to places outside the park, now they have been seen in the Otuwhero wetlands ... a species that had been eliminated is back."
