Pūkaha National Wildlife Centre will release six young yellow- crowned kākāriki reared in captivity into the 942ha surrounding forest on Wednesday this week. This will be the first of several releases of 39 birds in total, approved by the Department of Conservation and reared at the Pūkaha or other sanctuaries like Ngā Manu, Natureland and Tui Nature reserve over the past year.

“It’s an exciting culmination of a great deal of time, effort and care that has gone into a breeding for release programme for the species, co-ordinated through Pūkaha. Yellow-crowns are found throughout the North and South Island and on Stewart Island but are rare. While they have been seen in the Tararua region and at Pūkaha in the past, this release and two more in future years will boost the local population significantly” says Christine Reed, Biodiversity Manager at Pūkaha.

It follows successful releases of this species at other sites such as Puangiangi Island in the Marlborough Sounds and into Nelson Lakes. “Conservation breeding for release from sanctuaries such as Pūkaha continues to be a significant contributor to species conservation in Aotearoa” says Emily Court General Manager at Pūkaha.

Visitors can hopefully catch a glimpse of the birds at feeder stations set up in the reserve, where staff will monitor their activity. It is expected that they will then disperse through the ngahere (forest) to find suitable breeding sites and natural food sources. “While we will continue to supplementary feed the released juveniles for a while, there is abundant natural food in the surrounding forest that is perfect for their needs, especially after a recent and successful rat and possum control programme” says Christine Reed.

Pūkaha is extremely grateful to the conservation breeding facilities who have supported the programme and to our supporters including Seeds and Cereals, Yardlands and Innes Dean Tararua Law without whom this work would not be possible. The manu (birds) will be guided into their new home with a blessing from mana whenua, Rangitāne.

About Pūkaha: Pūkaha National Wildlife Centre is a wildlife reserve and captive breeding facility managed by the Pūkaha Mount Bruce board in partnership with Rangitāne o Wairarapa and the Department of Conservation. Through captive breeding, they have successfully reintroduced North Island Kākā, North Island Brown Kiwi and North Island Kōkako into their unfenced forest reserve (formerly part of the original 70 Mile Bush). Pūkaha aims to educate and inspire the general public about conservation and New Zealand wildlife through their Visitor Centre, daily talks and educational programmes. Pūkaha also works with whio (blue duck), pāteke (brown teal), and kākāriki. Pūkaha is open between 9:00am and 6:00pm during the summer.

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