The first black stilt (kakī) egg of the 2026-27 breeding season has been laid at the Department of Conservation (Doc) captive facility in Twizel by a pair — Rodney and Nox.

The egg was described as “especially exciting” for the Kakī Recovery Programme as Rodney suffered a leg injury last year and was unable to breed during that season.

He went to the Dunedin Wildlife Hospital for treatment before being reunited with Nox.

The Kakī Recovery Programme team was “thrilled” to see Rodney back to full health, paired up and successfully nesting, a post said.

A second captive pair at the Twizel facility, Māwhero and Manunui, had been hard at work constructing a “rather elaborate nest”, and it was hoped that they were not far from laying their own clutch.

Kakī typically lay four eggs in a clutch, with the team collecting and artificially incubating them, allowing pairs to re-lay and maximise the number of eggs produced in a breeding season.

Two eggs were left to hatch and and be raised by the black stilts.

More than 100 captive kakī were recently released, on the Godley River and along the Tasman River, in a “vital” step for the survival of one of the world’s rarest wading birds.