Shearwaters flown to Matiu-Somes Island
LEE-ANNE EDWARDS
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Hutt News
It was helicopter, rather than wing power that carried up to 80 fluttering shearwater chicks to Matiu/Somes Island last Tuesday.
The attempt to establish a colony on the Wellington harbour island uses chicks from Long Island in the Marlborough Sounds, where it is estimated several thousand breeding pairs live.
Fluttering shearwaters are common to Whanganui-a-Tara but haven't bred here since pre- European times.
"They were once an important food source for local iwi," said project manager Shane Cotter, of the Matiu/Somes Charitable Trust.
A shared effort by the trust, the Kaitiaki Board and the Conservation Department, the project is another exciting phase in the ecological restoration of the island, Mr Cotter said.
Burrowing seabirds provide significant nutrients for terrestrial ecosystems, and their habitat (burrows) are also used by invertebrates and reptiles.
Several species have been reintroduced to the island in the last decade, including Cook Strait giant weta, forest geckos, Wellington green geckos, ornate skinks, Brothers Island tuatara, red crowned kakariki and the North Island robin.
The success of reintroductions of other reptiles and invertebrate species may be dependent on burrowing seabirds being present.
The project follows a similar successful operation on Mana Island between 2006 and 2009.
Volunteers spent three to four days collecting the chicks, which are now settling into new artificial burrows at the southern end of Matiu/Somes.
The young chicks will be hand- fed initially.
The chicks were welcomed with a powhiri by local Te Atiawa kaumatua.
- Hutt News
