Weka don't pass on alpine living

DEAN KOZANIC/The Press

WATCHFUL EYE: John Charles looks on while his wife, Judy, checks a stoat trap in Arthur's Pass where weka are returning now there are fewer predators.

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Weka are being welcomed back to Arthur's Pass after an absence of more than 80 years.

Long-time inhabitants of the village say weka have not lived there since the 1920s, but in the past year they have returned.

The Department of Conservation (DOC) has blamed predators and habitat loss for the weka's past decline.

John Charles, who was the ranger in Arthur's Pass National Park for 26 years until 1988, said some people blamed the birds' disappearance on the 1918 flu pandemic.

"On the eastern side they said it seemed they disappeared because of association with this flu," said Charles, 68, who still lives in Arthur's Pass.

Attempts to reintroduce weka into the national park in the 1960s failed until a population was re-established near the Taramakau River in the early 1970s.

"Now they've slowly moved down the Taramakau, up the valley to Otira, and now there are about four or five that have made their way across Arthur's Pass. It's great to see them back," Charles said.

Graeme Kates, a member of the Arthur's Pass Kiwi Recovery Project, said other birds, such as robins, had returned to the village after efforts to control predators by residents and DOC.

He said about six weka were living in School Tce behind the visitor centre.

The "opportunist" weka were begging for food, Kates said, but people should resist the temptation to feed them.

- © Fairfax NZ News