New tourism venture get people up close to NZ's rarest forest bird

Wednesday, 20 May 2020

Conservation Minister Eugenie Sage talks about the success of the breeding of kākāriki karaka/orange-fronted parakeet. (Video first published July 2019)

A new tourism venture is giving people a way to see the country's rarest forest bird up close in the wilderness.

The tours offer people the chance to take a pre-dawn helicopter ride from Christchurch and spend time with New Zealand's rarest forest bird, the orange-fronted parakeet/kākāriki karaka.

The bird, with its unmistakable vibrant plumage, is the rarest of the country's six species of parakeet.

About 300 of the parakeets remain in the wild, with most in the Hurunui South Branch in Lake Sumner Forest Park and the Hawdon and Poulter valleys in Arthur's Pass National Park in Canterbury. There is also a population on Blumine Island in the Marlborough Sounds. They were thought to have been extinct until 25 years ago.

* Fantastic breeding season for one of New Zealand's rarest birds

The tours involve a pre-dawn helicopter ride from Christchurch.

* Best breeding season for decades almost doubles rare orange-fronted parakeet numbers**

The tours are a collaboration between The George hotel and Christchurch Helicopters, and are available to hotel guests by special arrangement.

The tour is the brainchild of Christchurch Helicopters' owners and pilots, Terry Murdoch and former All Black captain Richie McCaw.

The tours, dubbed Flight Path, were designed by Christchurch Helicopter’s owner and pilots, Terry Murdoch and Richie McCaw.

The pair was committed to raising funds to support efforts by the Department of Conservation's recovery team to bolster Canterbury's parakeet population.

Projects include working with pest-control innovation, intensified monitoring and research, increased genetics to support optimal pairings, and breeding aviaries to reduce the stress on the birds who have to be translocated.

The orange-fronted parakeet has a distinctive stripe of colour on its face.

Guests would fly to Lake Sumner Forest Park and show them the best spots in the valley, such as some natural hot pools.

After lift-off, guests would see the Canterbury Plains and farmland from above, along with the region’s braided rivers. People would also have the chance to help out with some ranger activities such as checking and baiting traps.

Eighteen of the birds were released into the wild after coronavirus restrictions eased to level 3.

They joined another 15 that were released in the area in March following a booming breeding season.

* An earlier version of this story incorrectly said the Department of Conservation (DOC) and one of its rangers were involved in the tour. It also incorrectly said the tours were called Flight Path. DOC's orange-fronted parakeet release programme is called Flight Path.