Aerial pest control programme boost whio population

Aerial pest control and nest egg programme boost whio population

A study of whio/blue duck in eastern Kahurangi National Park has shown the benefits rearing ducklings in wildlife facilities and aerial 1080 pest control have in increasing their numbers in the wild.

The Department of Conservation study in the Wangapeka-Fyfe Whio Security Site found female whio hatched and reared at a wildlife centre contributed significantly to productivity in the site after being released there as juveniles.

The three-year study also found landscape-scale aerial 1080 pest control provided better protection for whio nests than the sites intensive trapping along 73km of waterway. Twenty five whio are believed to have fledged in the breeding season immediately after an aerial 1080 pest control operation compared to none and then three in the following two years with trapping alone.

The whio security site, centred on the Wangapeka and Fyfe river catchments, is one of eight nationally ensuring the survival of whio in the wild through DOCs partnership with Genesis Energy in the Whio Forever Project.

Kate Steffens, Senior Ranger Biodiversity, said the findings helped determine the best measures for increasing the whio population.

Through the WHIONE Whio Operation Nest Egg programme we have been taking eggs from wild pairs in the park to Christchurchs Peacock Springs Wildlife Centre. The ducklings are hatched and raised there until three to four months old when they are then released into the Wangapeka-Fyfe Whio Security Site.

Fifty percent of the 28 whio believed to have successfully fledged from nests over the 2011-2014 study period were produced by WHIONE females though they numbered just eight or 38 percent of the 21 females followed.

The study also showed that in the few months after an aerial 1080 pest control operation by the then Animal Health Board (now TBFree NZ), nine out of 10 nests, 90%, successfully produced ducklings. Flooding caused one nest to fail.

In the following years with just trapping alone, just three out of 6 nests, 50 percent, and then two out of six nests, 33 percent, successfully produced ducklings.

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Aerial pest control programme boost whio population