Ducklings Lift Population of Endangered Species

FIVE blue ducklings, or whio, successfully hatched in Te Anau last week as part of a captive breeding programme for the endangered species.

Department of Conservation rangers Andrew Smart and Chris Golding said the chicks were doing well.

The five eggs were collected from a nest alongside the Bowen River at Milford last month as part of the Real Journeys-sponsored Operation Nest Egg.

Whio have been steadily declining in Fiordland during the past 30 years. Stoat control had significantly increased the survival rate of the ducks but the population needed a boost to reach sufficient numbers.

The five new ducklings will be kept in captivity until they are about 15 weeks old. They will then be released into the stoat control areas of the Clinton and Arthur valleys.

Operation Nest Egg will transfer blue duck eggs to captivity from this year until 2010.

The operation aims to increase the genetic diversity of the species’ population.

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