The native kakī or black stilt bird. Photo: Supplied / Department of Conservation
The Department of Conservation (DOC) is on the lookout for one of the world's most endangered wetland birds, and asking local farmers and landowners to help.
The native kakī or black stilt birds mostly call Mackenzie Basin's braided rivers and wetlands home, but conservation staff expected they could be on the move following the recent storms that affected South Island riverbeds.
Spring marked mating season for the endemic bird considered "nationally critical", a DOC classification for birds considered the most severely threatened and facing an immediate high risk of extinction. It was a taonga species for Māori.
Kakī were vulnerable to habitat loss, changing or unseasonal weather and predators.
Kakī are an endemic bird considered nationally critical. Photo: Supplied / Department of Conservation
DOC asked farmers and the public to report any sightings of the black bird with notable red legs, that may be on the hunt for a new riverside home.
Recovery programme lead, Claudia Mischler said they were mostly found around the Mackenzie Basin, but had been spotted in South Canterbury's Waimate and as far north as Marlborough.
"There's a lot of time and energy that goes into trying to save this species," she said.
"We're only at about 150 adults in the wild at the moment, so there's actually fewer kakī out there than there is kākāpō and Kiwi, so they are incredibly rare."
Conservation staff would seek out kakī nests as part of the recovery programme, then take the eggs into captivity where they were incubated, hatched and later released from captive breeding aviaries, in efforts to protect the young against common predators, stoats, ferrets and hedgehogs.
A kakī chick. Photo: Supplied / Department of Conservation
Mischler said historically the birds had been forced onto farmland when rivers had flooded, as they always sought still water where they could find insects to eat.
"Anywhere there's water that might last for a while is fair game, that includes just muddy, freshly ploughed paddocks or just paddocks with short grass.
"Basically you're just looking for a very beautiful, totally black bird with a long bill and red pinky, long legs loitering around the edge of the water."
She said finding them was not always easy.
"Sometimes it just feels like looking for a needle in a haystack when we're out there trying to find these pairs in these nest, so the more eyes on the ground we have out there the more useful it is for us... they're pretty special."
Mackenzie locals were encouraged to keep an eye out for any leg tags on the birds, but any sightings would be welcome at twizel@doc.govt.nz.
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