Bumper season for nearly extinct bird

With only about 150 taiko left, a flock of 22 hatchlings has given a huge boost to the birds' chances of survival.

16 February 2016 

They were once thought extinct, and only about 150 are still left - so those trying to save the Chatham Island taiko have reason to celebrate a bumper breeding season.

This season, 22 of the highly endangered native birds were hatched - smashing the previous record of 13.

Chatham Island Taiko Trust co-ordinator Mike Bell said he was thrilled with the result, which was a massive boost given the population numbers.

"There are only 26 pairs of these birds in the whole world - the rest are too young to breed - so every chick counts in protecting and building the population," he said.

But the season wasn't all smooth sailing, with one of the eggs being left by its parents.

"It looks like the female literally dumped the egg and left, then the male just stood around outside their burrow and didn't sit on the egg for about 10 days before going off out to sea," Mr Bell said.

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