Forest & Bird media release for immediate use
Stitchbird release delayed
The release of 60 endangered hihi, or stitchbirds, in Auckland’s Ark in the Park has been delayed until Thursday, May
22. Bad weather stopped the birds being transferred from Tiritiri Matangi Island sanctuary today (May 21).
The hihi are joining their mates at Cascade Kauri Park, the home of the Ark in the Park community restoration project in
the Waitakere Ranges. The birds transferred last year were the first to have lived on the Auckland mainland for more
than a century after they were wiped out by predators, loss of habitat and possibly disease in the late 1800s.
The newest wave of migrants from Tiritiri Matangi Island will be released into the predator-controlled area of the park.
The Department of Conservation’s Hihi Recovery Group wanted more birds added to the original population before the next
breeding season.
Ark in the Park – a Forest and Bird and Auckland Regional Council partnership – began in 2003.
ENDS