Winning outcome for critically ill wetlands bird

A rare matuku-hūrepo (Australasian bittern) brought into Auckland Zoo’s veterinary hospital in a critically ill condition has made a remarkable recovery and been released into Matuku Link – a  beautiful safe West Auckland wetlands’ habitat where she can thrive.

The ‘Threatened -‘Nationally Critically’ bird – a young female, was severely emaciated when found by MPI staff in an Auckland Airport carpark in early July. On arrival at the Zoo, she weighed just 600grams, and veterinary tests revealed starvation, severe anaemia, and signs of infection.

A team effort of intensive supportive veterinary care, an enriching diet, and critically – providing this highly sensitive, secretive, and easily stressed bird with a quiet, private environment supported her full recovery and impressively robust release weight of 1.082kg!

“Being highly sensitive, matuku-hūrepo are notoriously difficult birds to successfully treat in human care. As a team of dedicated professionals, it’s therefore always hugely rewarding, and we all feel very proud, when our efforts lead to such positive outcomes like this,” says Auckland Zoo veterinary nurse Celine Campana, who joined our Department of Conservation (DOC) and Matuku Link colleagues, to release this individual into her new home.

“It’s also very exciting that this individual is a young female as she has the potential to breed and contribute to helping her species’ population grow.

“With an estimated population of fewer than 1000 matuku-hūrepo across their range, this is a species that needs all the help it can get. Having her released into an environment, where thanks to amazing community efforts, there is ongoing predator control and habitat restoration, and other matuku-hūrepo, gives her the very best chance of a long healthy life,” says Celine.

Use of tracking technology to monitor progress

To support the monitoring of this individual’s progress, prior to her release last week, DOC and Zoo staff fitted her with a special light-weight tracker.

“This tracker, which has already provided us with some data, records this bird’s movements and communicates it back to us researchers via New Zealand’s cell phone network,” explains DOC Science Advisor, Emma Williams.

“It is an invaluable tool as it helps us wetland managers understand how she is coping, and as time goes on, whether she is breeding or not, and which sites are important for matuku-hūrepo within the Auckland/Northland/Waikato region. All of this is critical to enabling us as conservationists to maximise protection for the species and will help inform how we do future releases.”

The matuku-hūrepo is a native wetlands bird found mainly in Northland, Waikato, the North Island’s East Coast and South Island’s West Coast, and some parts of Australia. Starvation is a known cause of concern for the species here in Aotearoa due to habitat loss, a decline in preferred prey species like eels, and poor water quality and water levels.

Zoo support of wetlands habitat in Tāmaki Makaurau

Since 2012, Auckland Zoo has been proudly supporting wetlands habitat restoration – providing both financial and practical assistance for predator control in Forest & Bird’s Habitat Te Henga – the  largest mainland wetland (approximately 250ha) in Tāmaki Makaurau.

Thanks to the incredible efforts of many, West Auckland’s Habitat Te Henga, which borders Matuku Link, is home to a diverse range of wetlands species. These taonga range from pāteke (brown teal), mātātā (fernbird) and pūweto (spotless crake) to mioweka (banded rail) and matuku-hurepo (Australasian bittern). The nearby beach area also attracts many migratory shore birds like tuturiwhatu (dotterel), kororā (little penguin) and oi (grey faced petrels).

Whenever you visit Auckland Zoo, you’re also supporting conservation mahi like this and many other conservation projects for threatened wildlife here in Aotearoa and around the world!