Taking the Long View: Return of the Petrels

The email invitation said it will bring a smile to your face and may even be the highlight of your summer.

It was a call for volunteers to help feed grey-faced petrel chicks, following their translocation from Taranga (Hen) Island to Matakohe/Limestone Island in the Whangarei Harbour. It would be their home for several weeks before flying off to their life at sea – and hopefully where they return to breed sometime in the future.

The invitation included a very special job description:

These little guys need your help to get a feed. It is simple work but you need to be agile and calm. Come prepared with sun block, hats and clothes for cold and wet weather. Bring your lunch and drinks. Even if the weather is bad we still have to feed the chicks. Maybe if the forecast is bad wear gumboots.

This was early December last year. My wife, Sandy, and I were planning to be in the area, so a friend involved in the project kindly extended the invitation to us.

“Come along,” he said. “Be there to welcome the birds, help them settle in.”

This effort to re-establish an oi or grey-faced petrel colony on the island is just one part of a restoration programme launched some twenty-five years ago.

Matakohe/Limestone Island, 37 hectares in size, was strategically important for Te Parawhau. The island’s summit housed the Matakohe pa site, and its north-face supported a large kumara growing operation.

European settlement brought lime and cement works, and quarrying continued through to the mid-1960s. The island then remained largely neglected, treeless and full of pests for more than twenty years. In 1989, ‘mining rights’ were bought for $1 by the Harbour Board and the island was gifted to Whangarei District Council to become a public reserve.

The local branch of Forest & Bird was instrumental in getting restoration efforts started. The Friends of Matakohe/Limestone Island (FOMLI) Society was soon formed – involving all interested parties and charged with spearheading the restoration plan.

This passionate group of volunteers has been busy. They have overseen revegetation with native trees and plants – more than 160,000 at last count. They have eradicated pest predators and re-introduced threatened native fauna, including kiwi, banded rail, New Zealand dotterel, forest gecko and moko skink. They have developed walking tracks, installed interpretative signage, and created opportunities for education and research. With support of the district council and sponsor Golden Bay Cement, FOMLI now retains a resident ranger on the island.

Cathy Mitchell, wildlife vet and manager of the translocation programme, with four-month-old grey-faced petrel chick

And they are reintroducing grey-faced petrel. Chicks were transferred to the island annually for five years beginning in 2004. Two more groups arrived in 2014 and 2015. Chicks fledging from the island now totals 226, and some of the early birds are now returning.

We were there to see in the ‘Class of 2015’. Each of the 48 chicks arrived in its own cardboard travel box. We moved them carefully from boat to shore. A karakia (prayer) was then offered, seeking to ensure their safe transition from birthplace to their new home and onward in their lives. Then it was up the hill where the chicks were weighed, given water, and each placed in its own (man-made) burrow.

The day brought more than a smile to my face. I was inspired by the commitment of the volunteers, moved by the respect shown the chicks. I was in awe of these little creatures who would soon go off to spend years – flying, diving, eating, and floating – at sea. I was pulling for their safe return.

The book Paradise Saved captures the essence of Matakohe/Limestone, noting, “It shows how a small, unloved island with an industrial history can become a vibrant area for wildlife in a relatively short period of time, with willing volunteers and the assistance of a range of generous sponsors.”

Gord Stewart is an environmental sustainability consultant. He does project work for government, industry, and non-profit organisations.

More Info

www.limestoneisland.org.nz – Information on the island itself and the work of the Friends of Matakohe/Limestone Island Society.

Paradise Saved (Random House 2014) – This lovely book with great photographs details conservation efforts and wildlife sanctuaries around the country (including Matakohe/Limestone Island).

© Scoop Media