Big boost for pateke population

Kiwi Birdlife Park wildlife keeper Dan Boyce frees one of 80 brown teal ducks in the Arthur Valley, near Milford Sound, last Thursday. Fewer than 2000 of the ducks are thought to exist in the wild. Photo supplied.

A Queenstown wildlife keeper was last week involved in the release of 80 endangered brown teal ducks in the Arthur Valley, near Milford Sound.

Dan Boyce, of Kiwi Birdlife Park, was part of a team of five that released the young ducks which had been bred in captivity. The brown teal is the rarest mainland duck species in New Zealand, with fewer than 2000 individuals thought to exist in the wild.

Brown teal, or pateke, are half the size of the common mallard duck and live a nocturnal life, resting under waterside vegetation through the day and hunting insects on land at night.

The 80 birds released, including four from the Kiwi Birdlife Park, were gathered from around the country and taken to Peacock Springs, in Christchurch, before being driven to Queenstown.

Mr Boyce said the team then drove to Milford Sound and was taken by helicopter to nearby Arthur Valley, an area subject to heavy predator control by the Department of Conservation.

The release went off without a hitch. Mr Boyce said the pateke population had been doing well since captive releases started in 2009.

"They are doing really well out there. Doc are keeping up the pressure on trapping and have killed about 400 stoats."

"They are starting to breed and that's a pretty good indication that they are faring well down there."

He said this year's release was the largest so far.