Rare stilt breeding well

Press, 16 December 1985, Page 13

Rare stilt breeding well

The endangered black stilt, one of the world’s rarest waders, is having a promising breeding season this year, say Wildlife Service officers. Wildlife officers had observed 13 breeding pairs in the Waitaki basin out of a population of only 50 birds, said Twizel’s wildlife officer, Mr Dave Murray, recently. “The Waitaki birds have

laid about 60 eggs and another eight from black stilts held in captivity at Wairarapa’s National Wildlife Centre are being artificially incubated,” he said. “All but two of the nests’ eggs have hatched and we still have 18 eggs in artificial incubators. When these are ready to hatch we will foster them out to black stilt pairs or to other stilt foster-parents.”

Six of the chicks have disappeared, probably because of predation. The absence of late snowfalls or floods in the Waitaki basin had encouraged a good breeding season, Mr Murray said. “Black stilt chicks cannot fly until they are about four weeks old. Until then they are extremely vulnerable to predators or bad weather.”