Aviaries being built to preserve rare birds

Aviaries to protect a “nucleus” population of 60 rare New Zealand dotterel birds are currently under construction at the Oiled Wildlife Response Centre near Tauranga where Massey University vets are working to save as many oil slick stricken birds as possible.

In the ten days since the centre first mobilised in response to the spillage of oil from the stranded ship Rena, a small village of makeshift tents and huts has been erected to accommodate 210 retrieved birds, ranging from little blue penguins to pied shags, from the Bay of Plenty coastline.

They also include 46 rare New Zealand dotterel. These birds are being housed in small aviaries being individually built for them, the University’s wildlife centre director Dr Brett Gartrell says.

“They are easily stressed and disturbed birds and very territorial so we’re placing them one per enclosure.”

Priority was being given to the more robust adult birds. Chicks would still be picked up but eggs left on the beach.

Dr Gartrell says ideally the centre will be able to collect at least 60 dotterel, which will provide a “nucleus of a population” in the event others succumb to the oil still seeping ashore.

A total of 1290 dead birds of other species have been recovered.

Other wildlife being cared for at the centre include three New Zealand fur seals.