1080: The facts
  • Home
  • The Facts
    • 1080 fact sheet
    • Overview of 1080
    • The science of how 1080 works
    • Facts and figures >
      • The predators
      • The victims
    • Conservation
    • Bovine TB
    • 1080 bait and delivery
    • Alternatives to 1080
    • Regulation of 1080 >
      • Changes to 1080 regulation
  • 1080 at work
    • News
    • Case studies
    • From the field
    • Tiakina Ngā Manu
  • Research + Resources
    • Research
    • Reports
    • Resources >
      • FACTS: in pictures
      • NZ predator control map
  • Projects
    • 1080 and Water
    • 1080 and Fish
    • 1080 and Dogs
    • The facts of the missing rock wren
    • 1080 and Soil
  • Gallery
    • Photos
    • Videos
    • Links
  • The Trust
    • About the Trust
    • News from the Trust
    • Our supporters
    • Contact Us

Native whio blue ducks spread wings outside Egmont National Park to farmland

3/3/2020

0 Comments

 
​A Taranaki farming couple are seeing the benefits of predator control after a family of whio, or native blue ducks, took up residence on their land.

Matt and Vanessa Vujcich farm a 100 hectare dry stock farm near Inglewood on the Egmont National Park boundary, which has been the subject wide scale pest management through aerial 1080 and trapping.
The couple, who moved to Taranaki from Auckland three years ago, installed 45 traps along bush boundaries and river banks on the farm to target weasels, stoats, possums, rats and feral cats.

"We came to Taranaki because there was a good balance between farming and conservation values," said Matt Vujcich.

The former Auckland Council senior ranger said that in two years the traps, a mix of A24 automatic traps and bait and set box traps had killed 200 rats, 12 stoats, 8 possums and 18 feral cats.

The Vujcich's pest control has now brought new life to their farm. 

Two adult whio and five ducklings have settled beside the Maketawa Stream, one of several streams among 18km of waterways which run through the farm from the national park.

"You don't see a lot of whio in the open, they tend to stick to the river banks and waterways," Vujcich said.

​"We are now seeing them spread out from the bush and into farmland. They are strong swimmers and low flyers and quiet and easy to approach.

"It's fantastic to watch them on the river swimming among the rapids looking for food."

Taranaki Mounga, the group which coordinated pest control inside the national park boundary, reported 87 whio ducklings on eight rivers surveyed in the national park during annual monitoring by the Department of Conservation.

There were 54 whio ducklings counted in the previous 2018-2019 breeding season.

Vujcich said the increased whio sightings were the result of the success of the predator programme.

"It's good that the project is growing more successful and not running out of steam," he said.

DOC biodiversity ranger Joe Carson said the increase of whio had also been attributed to multiple sightings of the bird inside and outside the national park boundary.

The surge in whio numbers is an unlikely success story. In the mind 1940s predation by rats and stoats had seen the whio population on Mt Taranaki declared "functionally extinct".

The whio population in the national park is now at least 31 pairs, with 640 pairs in the North Island, Carson said.

Taranaki Mounga project manager Sean Zieltjes​ said many groups and individuals were working together towards a positive outcome.

"Completing our 1080 operation before spring has definitely helped to knock down predator numbers to give whio the best chance to breed," he said.

"This is backed up by the ongoing trapping efforts by volunteers on the maunga through to neighbouring farmers trapping on their properties.

"All this work is providing a safe haven for whio to continue to thrive."
0 Comments

Your comment will be posted after it is approved.


Leave a Reply.

    RSS Feed

    Archives

    October 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    December 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    February 2017
    December 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    March 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    March 2014

    Categories

    All
    1080
    1080 Operation
    Aerial 1080
    Bats
    Battle For Our Birds
    Bovine TB
    Catlins
    Conservation
    Deer Hunting
    DOC
    Egmont National Park
    EPA
    Federated Farmers
    Forest & Bird
    Government
    Ground Control
    Hawkes Bay
    Hunua
    Kahurangi
    Kea
    Kiwi
    Kokako
    Mohua
    Mt Taranaki
    OSPRI
    PCE
    Pests
    Possums
    Rangitoto
    Regulation
    Research
    Rock Wren
    TBfree
    Trout
    Wairarapa
    Whio

supporting organisations

This website is operated by the Pest Control Education Trust
About the Trust | Contact the Trust