Source: Radio New Zealand
A mohua settling into its new home in the Matukituki Valley. RNZ/Katie Todd
Fifty tiny, yellow songbirds have been released in a corner of Mount Aspiring National Park that hasn’t heard their chirps in years.
Conservationists hope the at-risk mohua can set up a new foothold in the Matukituki Valley, west of Wānaka, after years of intensive predator-control work by passionate locals.
Also called yellowhead, the birds were once among the most abundant species in South Island forests in the 1800s, but now number fewer than 5000.
To revive the population, the Department of Conservation has seeded populations on predator-free offshore islands, then returned small groups to carefully managed mainland sites.
Southern Lakes Sanctuary Matukituki hub co-ordinator Scotty Bewley said the valley’s new arrivals were delivered by helicopter from Anchor Island in Dusky Sound on 14 October.
“It just gives the species the opportunity to hopefully rebuild itself in a natural environment to become stronger, to become more resilient to the challenges that we face as the world changes and for people to enjoy them in multiple areas,” he said.
Southern Lakes Sanctuary staff carried out a census last week to see how the newcomers had settled and spotted a dozen birds across three sites – a result Bewley described as heartening, after a stretch of stormy weather.
“For 12 birds to be found in the first census over two days is quite encouraging,” he said. “It shows that the birds have survived through a pretty turbulent weather period, but also stayed in the area and haven’t found the need to vacate.
Volunteers releasing the mohua in Matukituki Valley, west of Wānaka, in October. Supplied/Geoff Marks
“They’ve found suitable habitat.”
For Bewley, watching three mohua flitting around the forest canopy on Monday near Cascade Hut, a kilometre from the release site, was a particularly special moment.
“It’s fantastic for the Mohua Recovery Group and the Department of Conservation to feel as though they can be released here,” he said.
“They’re a beautiful native bird. They were here at one point and now we have the opportunity to enjoy them again.”
Years of community work
Much of the Matukituki Valley’s predator control has been driven by locals, who refuse to watch their backyard fall silent.
Geoff Marks, a trustee with the Matukituki Charitable Trust, said residents noticed kea numbers slipping in 2013 and felt compelled to step in.
“Derek and Gillian Crombie, who set up the trust, walked into a Department of Conservation office and said, ‘What can we do to help?’” he said.
“While the translocation of mohua was never an original objective, we were hopeful that one day we might be able to translocate other species.
“This is just the culimnation of incredibly hard work by lots and lots of volunteers, and many, many hours of getting sweaty in the hills, and coming home stinking of dead rats and stoats.”
Scott Bewley, Matukituki hub co-ordinator for Southern Lakes Sanctuary. RNZ/Katie Todd
Southern Lakes Sanctuary came on board in 2021, helping co-ordinate the valley’s work, as part of a wider regional effort.
Bewley spent hours each week on steep trap-lines, testing new devices for rats, stoats, possums and feral cats.
Nearly 1000 traps are scattered across the valley, he said, from experimental stoat designs backed by Predator Free NZ to AI-enabled devices that powered down, whenever a curious kea hopped too close.
Many of the traps were on Mt Aspiring Station, which covered much of the valley floor.
Co-owner Sally Aspinall said letting conservation groups in was an easy decision.
“Getting rid of pests and predators is beneficial for everyone,” she said. “This is a special place.
“We farm it, but we want it to be in a better state when we leave it than when we arrived.”
Kererū numbers had surged in recent years, Aspinall said – she counted 22 in a single paddock not long ago – and birdlife in general had become noticeably more present.
“They’ve done a good job. We’ve definitely been noticing a lot more birdlife around the farm.”
A previous success story
Conservationists hoped the mohua would follow the same trajectory as the South Island robin.
Twenty-two robins were released into the valley in 2008 – that population had since ballooned to about 500.
Southern Lakes Sanctuary chief executive Paul Kavanagh said this year’s beech mast meant even more vigilance was required.
“We’ll be ramping up protection work, because with a beech-mast also comes an increase in rats and stoats,” he said. “This work has to continue in perpetuity to make sure they’re safe.
“It’s one thing getting the birds returned to that area, but now we have to make sure they’re as safe as possible.”
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– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand
