Source: Department of Conservation
The tūturuatu / tchūriwat’ / shore plover is a bird in need of urgent PR. With just 250 individuals left in the wild on a handful of predator-free islands, it is one of the world’s rarest shore birds, facing issues related to real estate, genetics and a pandemic.
Through collaboration and cooperation with tangata whenua, tchakat henu, community groups, and other stakeholders, the DOC-led Shore Plover Recovery Programme aims to turn the tide on this bird’s fate. The ‘Tūturuatu Telegraph’ takes a closer look at what it takes to bring this unique species back from the brink of extinction.
The Pūkaha National Wildlife Centre (PNWC) has a special legacy with the Shore Plover Recovery Programme, being one of the first facilities to receive wild tūturuatu eggs from Rēkohu / Chatham Islands, in 1981. In this world first, one chick hatched from 13 eggs, surviving for nearly two years. Forty-three years later, the team is looking forward to building a brand new breeding aviary to help ensure the long-term survival of this precious species.
(Right) Banding tūturuatu – DOC rangers Murray Williams and Hilary Aikman.
Researching the early days of the programme, you can appreciate how far we’ve come in terms of the tools of the trade – cell phones weren’t in common use, portable incubators were temperamental, and the Chatham Island flight service wasn’t exactly something to set your watch by. Further, little was known about the translocation and incubation of tūturuatu eggs – whether it was better to get fresh or partially incubated eggs, and what temperature and humidity the eggs required to hatch.
These issues and variables dominated the early years of the programme when the Chathams Department of Conservation (DOC) team translocated eggs from South East (Rangatira / Hokorereoro) Island to PNWC in the Wairarapa to incubate. After three poor seasons and a 9-year pause in the programme, tweaks were made to the temperature and humidity, lifting later-term rather than fresh eggs, and transporting the eggs to PNWC within a day. By the end of the ‘91/’92 season, 14 out of 17 eggs hatched successfully at Pūkaha and the captive breeding programme as we know it was established.
With 14 tūturuatu to suddenly rear, and more importantly, breed, the PNWC team faced a steep learning curve. The first captive pairs formed and produced eggs, and suddenly the feisty nature of territorial males became apparent. Stalking each other between see-through flight divisions resulted in the poor incubation of eggs, and sight screens were placed between pairs to keep them calm.
Gaining experience and momentum, important captive breeding milestones were made in the early days of the breeding programme at Pūkaha. In 1995, the first release of captive-bred tūturuatu was carried out on Motuora Island in the Hauraki Gulf Marine Park / Ko te Pātaka kai o Tikapa Moana. The following season, in a captive-breeding first, a pair raised four chicks in one clutch, while in the ‘96/’97 season, all 21 eggs translocated from Rangatira Island successfully hatched.
However, one of the most important developments for the programme was establishing accurate incubation parameters. This was achieved by measuring incubation temperatures in wild nests on Rangatira Island during the 1996 translocation, establishing optimum temperatures to set incubators and provide the best conditions for hand-rearing chicks. This allowed the team to lift and successfully incubate a fresh clutch of eggs, resulting in the captive pair renesting and producing another clutch of eggs. Producing multiple clutches in a season doubled, and in some cases, tripled productivity. The following season, 30 chicks were produced for both Motuora, and for the first release onto Waikawa (Portland) Island in the Hawke’s Bay. At their most productive point, PNWC had eight breeding pairs and produced 42 juveniles in one season.
It hasn’t all been roses for the PNWC team however. Avian pox, which has plagued the national programme, first showed up in 2002 at Pūkaha and significant resources were spent to construct the first insect-proof shore plover aviaries to reduce the risk of them contracting avian pox via biting insects. However, a paradoxical issue for PNWC was the establishment of endangered kārearea / NZ falcons in the 942ha forest the Centre is located in, following predator control. These avian predators swoop low over the tūturuatu aviaries, scaring the birds who react by flying into the hard wire mesh and suffering trauma injuries. Being the first aviary used for tūturuatu, it was not lined with soft mesh as the newer aviaries at ICWT and Cape Sanctuary are. With considerable deaths and injuries caused, the difficult decision was made in 2022 to abandon the breeding aviaries, which has severely reduced PNWC’s capacity to breed tūturuatu.
Fast-forward two years and exciting plans are afoot to build a new breeding aviary at PNWC, with the team nearing the end of the planning and investigation phase. The new aviary will be fitted with a shade cloth ceiling below the roof, to both limit visibility of the tūturuatu to kārearea, and prevent traumatic injuries to birds inside. PNWC Biodiversity Manager, Christine Reed, explains who and what is involved.
“To guide us throughout the process, we have established an advisory group consisting of species experts and conservation breeding specialists from DOC, the Pūkaha Mount Bruce Board and our own team. We’ve also visited The Isaac Conservation & Wildlife Trust and DOC’s Twizel facility to see their aviaries and listen to their experience. Landscape architect Megan Walker from Boffa Miskell has worked with us to produce conceptual and detailed plans for the base of the aviary, generously funded through the NZ Nature Fund, The Gift Trust and some pro bono work from Boffa Miskell themselves.”
Once they get the go ahead, their Project Manager, Lester Wolfreys, is confident they can get four breeding compartments built by September this year. This means more capacity in the captive breeding programme for the upcoming season, and more tūturuatu for release onto predator-free islands.
It’s becoming a tradition to finish these blogs with what our partners love about tūturuatu. Christine, who has a wealth of experience taking the national lead on captive management and the development of wildlife health capacity at DOC in the 1990s, is in a good position to comment.
“Being a small bird, they can be easily overlooked compared with bigger species like the kākāpō or takahē. Despite their size however, they are very endearing with a high level of individuality, and bags of confidence and charisma. We feel privileged to work with this unique and threatened species. With the rebuild of our breeding aviary we are looking forward to getting back up to speed and contributing the numbers of birds for release we once produced for the programme.”
And what does this mean for you, the visitor? As part of the aviary build, Pūkaha are investigating the use of remote cameras to beam live footage of the birds in the aviary back to the Visitor Centre. If you want to stay in the loop of their plans, and learn more about what Pūkaha National Wildlife Centre does for our native species, sign up to their newsletter.
