The final albatross egg of the season has hatched at Taiaroa Head, taking the total number of chicks to 27 and signalling an excellent breeding season despite the hot weather.
The chick hatched at Taiaroa Head on Wednesday.
This year's total equals the record high. Department of Conservation biodiversity ranger Lyndon Perriman said if they could get 24 chicks to fledge this season, that would bring the number to 100 in the past four years.
"They're not in captivity so to get 27 out of 31 ... that's pretty good when dealing with wild populations,'' Mr Perriman said.
"Now, the thing is being able to get these chicks ... away. We've got to get them through winter.''
Another two died recently, one because it was "malpositioned'' and the other from infection within 24 hours of hatching.
"We had 28 [eggs] ticking over for quite a long time. We had one, which is called malposition. The bill is supposed to be facing the air cell [in the egg]. But if it puts its head down the other way, it suffocates.''
Mr Perriman said the next few weeks were crucial as the chicks were susceptible to infection from flies laying maggots, the heat and being malnourished if a parent died at sea.
"Six [chicks] had fly strike. If we don't get them [maggots] off, their chances are slim.''
Two chicks still had fly strike yesterday, but Mr Perriman was confident they would be back to full health soon.
"The issue now is making sure the chicks get fed, and the heat.''
Sprinklers to keep the birds cool were "pumping away'' yesterday because of the warm day in Dunedin.
If chicks were losing weight, it was likely one parent had died, so those chicks would be hand fed, something Doc did not like to do, Mr Perriman said.
A web cam installed a fortnight ago, which live streams to the world during daylight hours, was helping monitor the daily exploits of a nesting pair and their chick.
It had had more than 40,000 views and Mr Perriman was hoping it would soon live stream 24 hours a day.
