Department of Conservation (DOC)’s Post

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The thing about our rangers is that they see all of the work first hand and up close. When this is tough, it's really tough. Like when all 34 chicks born in Shy Lake over 3 years died. But it means that when there is good news: we're all absolutely ecstatic. And today we have good news. Last year, we made a mini doco about the struggling population of Fiordland tokoeka kiwi in Shy Lake last year. If you haven't watched it, the TL;DW is that stoats were killing kiwi there at a rapid rate, and population survival was looking grim. After the use of aerial 1080 in the area to control stoats, we began seeing a slow but steady increase in kiwi numbers. Once kiwi chicks are over 1kg they can hold their own against stoats. So our job is to get as many chicks as possible to this safe weight. Here's the latest: 💚 11 chicks hatched chicks this season 💚 7 are still alive, with 3 now at safe weight 💚 DNA sexing shows 4 chicks are girls and 2 are boys, (and 1 is too small to get a pin feather sample from yet) 💚 The remaining 4 are between 600g and 900g and should reach 1kg in Spring, all going well 💚 If all 7 of this season’s chicks reach safe weight, that will be by far the best chick survival in a season since the study began 💚 Before 1080 was used in this area, chick survival per season was 0% The most recent 1080 drop in the Wet Jacket area (which includes Shy Lake) was in May 2024. We just got the results of the tracking data from that month and the trend of low stoat density after a 1080 operation continues, with just one mustelid leaving prints on a tracking tunnel in the whole treatment area. As a result of these operations, we're noticing an increase in other birds too--Doddy says there are loads more toutouwai and kākā around. Doddy's team have been going in every two weeks this season, doing tasks like changing the adults’ transmitter batteries, changing the nest camera SD cards, and changing transmitter harnesses on smaller chicks once a month. We’re very hopeful the last four chicks will make it to safe weight. Cross your fingers for them. We'll keep you updated. 📷: Doddy holding Cake’s latest chick, DOC 📷: Cake’s chick, born in February and weighed in at 560g in Jun, DOC 📷: Doddy crawling into a hole to extract Spanners for his transmitter change, DOC 📷: Edam O’malley, a female chick born in December who weighed in at 1.5kg in June, DOC 📷: Long John Silver’s chick (weighed 400g in this photo) but weighed in at 660g in June 📷: Doddy and Tim Raemaekers tracking kiwi, Lucy Holyoake DOC

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Leigh-Anne Wiig

Principal Advisor DG Engagement at Department of Conservation (DOC)

3mo

Fingers and toes crossed!

Jordan Tatum

Construction Site Manager, Skilled in Construction Carpentry & Renewable Energy Projects, Proven Leader in High-End International Projects

3mo

Keep up the good work❤️

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Alena Weiss

Actively looking for Job in Communications/People & Culture Management/Operations Leadership Ι 2 Master degrees Ι Results & Solutions-Driven Ι Networker & Team Builder Ι LEGO Lover

3mo

wonderful mahi! What an effort!! Beautiful 😍

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Sharon Billesdon

Ngāi Tahu, RRNZ Ranger

3mo

Awesome!!!!

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