Bumper whio breeding season boost population

Media release

23 February 2015

Bumper whio breeding season boost population

It’s been a bumper whio/blue duck breeding season both on and off the rivers throughout New Zealand.

More than 70 ducks bred, hatched or raised in captivity are being released back into the wild, and increased numbers of wild bred birds have been reported on rivers throughout the country.

Later this week 17 juvenile birds will be released into Egmont National Park recovery site to join the more than 100 whio now calling Taranaki home.

‘”The Taranaki recovery site went from no whio in 2002 to the stable population it now boasts, thanks to ongoing releases from the Whio Breed for Release programme”, says DOC’s National Whio Recovery Group Leader Jess Scrimgeour.

“Having a successful predator trapping programme now in place in the national park has allowed the duck, once extinct in Taranaki, to continue to grow in numbers,” she says.

Another ten whio from the Turangi hardening facility will be released into the Tongariro National Park area on March 25th. A further 11 captive bred birds will be released sometime in March at North Island sites still to be decided.

The North Island captive bred birds from the Isaac Conservation and Wildlife Trust and Mt Bruce-Pukawa Trust captive rearing facilities, were sent to the new whio hardening facility (whio boot camp) at the Tongariro National Trout Centre near Turangi.

The North Island has also been having an awesome season in the wild says Jess with preliminary figures showing most of the security and recovery sites having high numbers of juvenile birds on the rivers.

In the South Island, this has been the most successful season for the Central West Coast Whio Operation Nest Egg (WHIONE) programme, and in the Wangapeka-Fyfe whio security site in Kahurangi National Park, rangers have seen the most productive breeding happening in 11 years.

There have been sightings of whio families from rivers across the park, signalling an extremely successful breeding season. Adding to this will be nine WHIONE juveniles to be released into the northern area of the Kahurangi National Park on March 5th. Another four will be released in the Oparara-Ugly security site in southern Kahurangi National Park later in March.

West Coast Rivers are now home to 25 juvenile ducks released over the last couple of weeks. Taipo River is now home to an extra ten whio, Arahura to five, Moonlight to six and Styx River to another four whio.

Under the WHIONE programme whio eggs taken from nests on the West Coast, and transported to Christchurch where they are incubated, hatched and reared in a hardening facility at the Isaac Conservation and Wildlife Trust.

“They are returned to rivers when they are less vulnerable to stoats and other predators,” says Jess.

March is Whio Awareness month and a number of whio related activities are being held around the country including the whio releases in Kahurangi, Egmont and Tongariro National Parks; whio celebration release at Egmont National Park on February 25th; a whio celebration day at Tapuwera School in the Nelson area on March 5th, a whio display at WOMAD in New Plymouth 13 – 15th March; whio day at the Esplanade in Palmerston North on March 22nd and Whio Family fun weekend at Auckland Zoo on March 28 – 29th.

The annual online Great Whio Adventure competition will run from March 2nd until April 2nd on www.whioforever.co.nz. An awesome five day family holiday in either Tongariro or Fiordland National Park, including a day out with the whio rangers is up for grabs again. This year children can enter the competition once a week for five weeks with the online quiz changing each week.

Genesis Energy and the Department of Conservation have partnered together in a five year programme to secure the future of this unique vulnerable native bird. Operating under the name of Whio Forever this partnership is fast tracking implementation of the national Whio Recovery Plan to protect whio and increase public awareness.

The support of Genesis Energy is enabling DOC to double the number of fully secure whio breeding sites throughout the country, boost pest control efforts and enhance productivity and survival for these rare native ducks.

Background Information on whio

• The whio is a threatened species of native duck that is only found in New Zealand’s fast flowing waters. Featured on New Zealand’s $10 note and with an estimated nationwide population of less than 2500 birds, whio are rarer than kiwi.

• Whio are adapted to live on fast-flowing rivers so finding whio means you will also find clean, fast-flowing water with a good supply of underwater insects.

• This makes whio important indicators of ecosystem health – they only exist where there is high quality clean and healthy waterways.

WHIO FOREVER

• Genesis Energy has a strong historic association with whio through the Tongariro Power Scheme and in 2010 this association grew through the establishment of Whio Awareness Month (March).

• Today, Genesis Energy and the Department of Conservation (DOC) continue their partnership through The Whio Forever Programme, which aims to secure the future of whio in the wild and ensure New Zealanders understand and value of whio in our rivers.

• The support of Genesis Energy and the work of DOC has enabled the Whio Recovery Plan to be implemented.

CONSERVATION ISSUE

• The whio are eaten by stoats, ferrets and cats, with the largest impact during nesting time when eggs, young and females are vulnerable, and also when females are in moult and can’t fly.

• Extensive trapping can manage these predators and work in key whio habitats by DOC and Genesis Energy on the Whio Forever Project has already seen an increase in whio numbers.

• Whio cannot be moved to predator-free islands like other species because of their reliance on large fast-flowing rivers.

• Pairs occupy approximately 1km of water – so they need a lot of river to sustain a large population and they fiercely defend their territories, which makes it difficult to put them with other ducks in captivity.

• They are susceptible to flood events which, destroy nests, fragment broods and wash away their valued food source.

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