Twenty-one critically endangered shore plover chicks from a remote island are hatching in a captive breeding facility in Christchurch.
The shorebird chicks, which are native to New Zealand, began to hatch last week at the Isaac Conservation and Wildlife Trust (ICWT) facility.
The birds, from predator-free Rangatira Island (South East Island) in the Chatham Islands archipelago, were transported 800km to Christchurch on November 28.
The birds will be raised in the facility, with conservationists planning to use them to boost the genetic diversity of captive and wild populations.
Rose Collen, a technical advisor and Tūturuatu Recovery Programme co-ordinator at the Department of Conservation, said collecting the eggs was a challenge.
“Finding nests can be a challenge, as tūturuatu [shore plover] are very secretive when it comes to their eggs,” she said.
“One bird in the nesting couple keeps a lookout and as soon as someone approaches, they’re off their nests.
“We had to do a ‘stake out’, hiding behind rocks or bushes to watch them return to the nest so we could spot where they were.”
The eggs were then checked to make sure they were safe to transport and wouldn’t hatch during the journey, Collen said.
ICWT Assistant Wildlife Manager Leigh Percasky said increasing the genetic diversity of the shore plover was “essential” to the species’ future.
“These chicks will allow us to breed more robust birds, which we hope will be less susceptible to diseases and create more viable breeding options for the captive breeding programme.”
There are only about 250 of the birds left in the world, and they are vulnerable to introduced predators like rats and cats.
The shore plover is mostly found on a few predator-free islands and around the coast of mainland New Zealand in Auckland and the Hawke's Bay.
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