The Hutton’s Shearwater Charitable Trust

11 January 2012

MEDIA RELEASE

First Chick Hatched At New Hutton’s Shearwater Colony In Kaikoura

The Hutton’s Shearwater Charitable Trust received a welcome Christmas present when the first shearwater chick hatched at the new man made colony being developed on the Kaikoura Peninsula says Trust Treasurer Lindsay Rowe. This is the best news the Trust could hope for and goes one step further than last year when the first egg was laid. It caps off three amazing years since the Trust was formed in which time it has raised over $350,000 enabling a predator proof fence to be built around the new colony and for research projects to be started says Trust Chairman Paul McGahan. These achievements will assist in the Hutton’s shearwaters future protection and conservation.

Last summer we had the first 2 eggs laid but both were infertile, a not unexpected outcome for first year breeders. This year the first egg was seen on 6 November and it hatched about Christmas Day says Mr Rowe. As it takes about 83 days before a chick fledges, we now have an anxious and exciting wait until mid-March when it will take off for Australian waters for the next two years or so before, hopefully, returning to this site. Breeding pairs only lay one egg a year and after spending winters in offshore Australia they return each spring to breed only in the Kaikoura Mountains and now the new colony on the Peninsula.

It has taken several years of hard work to make the peninsula colony a reality says Mr McGahan who assisted with the translocations of Hutton’s shearwater from the Kowhai colony high in the Kaikoura Ranges where this species naturally breed at between 1200 to 1800 metres. Development of the peninsula colony has been a partnership between the Trust, Whalewatch’s Kaikoura Charitable Trust, the Department of Conservation and Te Runanga o Kaikoura. DoC undertook translocations between 2005 and 2008 to establish this third colony for this endangered seabird because of threats faced at the two remaining wild colonies.

The Trust recognises it will take years for the colony to become fully established but the fact that eggs have been laid and, now, a chick hatched is a good indication that chicks translocated to this site will successfully breed at this location. This year we have seen an increase in the numbers of non-breeders on the site which bodes well for the future of the Peninsula colony says Mr Rowe.

Mr McGahan says that the many volunteers, funders, organisations, and the Kaikoura community can be proud of their support for this project which is helping this iconic species.

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