Rare native ducklings spotted in the Abel Tasman National Park

Wednesday, 10 January 2018

A group of native pāteke, or brown teal (file photo).

For the first time in 'living memory', pāteke ducklings have been spotted in the Abel Tasman National Park.

More than seven months after a group of 20 juvenile pāteke, or brown teal, were released in the national park, a group of six ducklings have been captured on camera.

A group of six brown teal ducklings were captured on camera in Hadfield Clearing, behind Awaroa in the Abel Tasman National Park. It is thought to be the first time the rare native duck has bred inside the park.

Project Janszoon ornithologist Ron Moorhouse said while it was early days, it was 'incredibly encouraging' to see the birds breeding in their first year in the park.

'It is the first time we think this has happened in living memory, that pāteke have nested and bred in the Abel Tasman.'

The pāteke is New Zealand's rarest waterfowl on the mainland (file photo).

* Project Janszoon gaining ecological footholds in Abel Tasman National Park**

He said the ducklings were believed to be a week or so old.

Moorhouse said several hundred years ago, pāteke were the most common duck in New Zealand but their numbers had rapidly declined due to predators, mainly feral cats and stoats.

Pāteke are now only found in two places in the South Island – the Abel Tasman National Park and Arthur Valley in the Fiordland National Park.

'They are on their way to becoming biological refugees like so many other species.'

He said the presence of ducklings indicated trapping networks in the national park had reduced the number of cats and stoats to allow for successful breeding.

'If we can continue to control the predators it is looking positive we will have a viable pāteke population in the Abel Tasman.'

Last May, 20 pāteke were released on the banks of the lower Awapoto River, near Awaroa, in May as part of a translocation by Project Janszoon and the Department of Conservation.

The ducks were raised in several captive breeding facilities around the country then conditioned for release at Peacock Springs in Christchurch.

'It is something in itself for captive bred animals with no experience of the wild to survive so well.'

Department of Conservation (DOC) biodiversity ranger John Henderson said it was exciting to see the ducks breeding so soon after their release.

He said DOC rangers would continue to stock feeders in the area so the birds would have access to extra food as captive bred birds needed time to adapt to wild food.

Additional cameras had been placed at the site so rangers could keep an eye on the ducklings.