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“Sardine smoothies” have been on the menu for Kaikōura’s endangered Hutton’s Kaikōura’s (tītī) this season.
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A lack of food has seen volunteers supplement feeding chicks at Te Rae o Atiu colony on Kaikōura Peninsula to give them the best chance at survival.
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Hutton’s Shearwater Charitable Trust chairperson Ted Howard said this season has been the most successful for breeding in the peninsula colony, with 27 chicks hatching.
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But global warming is taking its toll, with rising ocean temperatures forcing krill, the birds’ staple diet, to go deeper for cooler temperatures, Howard said.
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The ongoing concerns for Kaikōura’s seabirds come amid calls for Environment Canterbury review the Canterbury Regional Coastal Environment Plan, which was adopted in 2005.
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Howard said there was a two week period this season where the adult tītī were unable to bring back enough food to feed their chicks.
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“They can lose 15 grams a day, so if they don’t get food for six days they can lose up to half their body weight.”
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The birds are weighed every three to four days and if they lose a quarter of their body weight, they are supplement fed.
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He described the “sardine smoothies” as having “a rather distinctive odour”.
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The chicks are meant to put on weight up to 600 grams before attempting to fly and heading out to sea during March and April.
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Howard said typically around 40% of the chicks returned to the colony after three or four years for breeding.
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Global warming is just one of threats to the endangered Kaikōura tītī, which was once an important source of mahinga kai for Ngāti Kurī.
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Threats include birds crash landing due to street lighting, getting caught in nets, plastic pollution and predators such as cats, dogs, stoats and wild pigs.
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It is thought there were 10 wild colonies in 1900 and eight in 1965, but now there are just two in the Seaward Kaikōura Ranges.
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Last season just two chicks survived in the Kowhai colony due to the wet conditions, but Howard is hoping for more success after half of the eggs hatched this season.
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Te Rae o Atiu colony is a partnership between Tukete Charitable Trust, which owns the land, local rūnanga, the Hutton’s Shearwater Charitable Trust and the Department of Conservation.
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It was established nearly 20 years ago by translocating chicks from the wild.
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Howard’s wife Ailsa McGilvary-Howard has been monitoring banded dotterel nests at Kaikōura for more than a decade.
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The dotterel are territorial and their nests more isolated, compared to the shearwaters which are “colonial nesters”.
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This leaves them more prone to cats, rats and hedgehogs.
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“Our trapping is working, but we need to get cats under control,” Howard said.
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This season 130 eggs have been counted from 46 dotterel nests, but survival rates are extremely low.
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Environment Canterbury councillors last month supported a motion by councillor Genevieve Robinson asking staff to report back on what would be involved in reviewing the coastal plan.
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Environmental groups have expressed concerns about the plight of seabirds, Hector’s and Māui dolphins, fur seals and corals.-:One news
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