Conservationists say efforts to reintroduce a rare forest songbird in Auckland have “exceeded all expectations” after at least 55 hihi chicks hatched in a regional park this summer.
The chicks are the first to hatch in Auckland’s Shakespear Regional Park’s Open Sanctuary following a major translocation project last year.
Forty adult hihi were moved to the park from predator-free nearby Tiritiri Matangi Island by Auckland Council, Shakespear Open Sanctuary Society and Ngāti Manuhiri Settlement Trust in June.
“The success of this project will give hihi the boost it needs to flourish again, and Aucklanders an opportunity to experience these little treasures in their natural environment,” said Auckland Council parks committee chairperson Councillor Ken Turner.
Shakespear Open Sanctuary senior ranger Matt Maitland said the number of healthy chicks “exceeded all our expectations”, especially given it was the population’s first breeding season.
“They are the first hihi – one of NZ’s rarest forest birds – to hatch and succeed in the area since disappearing from mainland Auckland in the 1870s.”
A couple of hihi were lost due to natural causes, Maitland said, adding the new arrivals were a “great result” compared with an unsuccessful attempt in 2022.
The hihi is nationally threatened, with Little Barrier Island holding the sole naturally-surviving population since the 1880s.
Small populations have been established in pockets around the North Island and the new colony at Shakespear Open Sanctuary brings the number of hihi habitats to eight.
There are an estimated 2000 hihi in New Zealand, making it one of the country’s rarest native birds.
