Self-sustaining endangered hihi population grabs foothold at Taranaki sanctuary

Monday, 1 April 2019

There are now between 70-80 hihi at Lake Rotokare Scenic Reserve.

A group of international scientists overseeing the plight of one of the country's most endangered birds will meet in New Plymouth to discuss the bird's long-term survival.

Members of the Hihi Recovery Group will outline the native hihi birds' reintroduction to Taranaki after 130 years at a two-hour public lecture at Puke Ariki, New Plymouth tomorrow on Wednesday night.

Fledging success rate for the endangered hihi bird was more than half at Lake Rotokare Scenic Reserve.

The evening will be split into a series of talks from a panel of speakers followed by questions from the audience.

Speakers include Dr John Ewen, a New Zealander based in London with the Zoological Society of London, Cambridge University's Vix Franks, Massey University's Doug Armstrong, conservationist Kevin Parker, and Lake Rotokare Scenic Trust manager Simon Collins.

Topics will include reintroducing hihi to Taranaki, and how they have adapted to a new environment.

The population of hihi at Lake Rotokare was becoming self sustaining after 40 of the birds were translocated from Tiritiri Matangi Island in the Hauraki Gulf in 2017.

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The sanctuary hosting the public lecture has one of seven actively managed populations of hihi in the North Island.

Following the end of the second breeding season there were now between 70-80 hihi at the Lake Rotokare Scenic Trust sanctuary, said manager Simon Collins.

The sanctuary had recorded a 53 per cent fledging success rate with 34 chicks, fledged from 64 eggs hatched this breeding season, Collins said.

Seventeen fledglings were produced in the first breeding season after reintroduction.

'We're only two years into establishing a population so every single bird counts,' he said.

Much of the hihi restoration work was helped by generous work from OMV New Zealand staff, and volunteers who provide up to 10,000 hours a year for working bees, he said.

Collins said the lecture by the group will be an opportunity for the public to understand what is happening to re-establish hihi.

'As a youngster I never believed I would see hihi in the wild, now we have a number of growing populations,' he said.

The two hour public lecture at Puke Ariki starts at 6pm.