Rare native ducklings spotted in the Abel Tasman National Park

For the first time in "living memory", pāteke ducklings have been spotted in the Abel Tasman National Park. 

More than seven months after a group of 20 juvenile pāteke, or brown teal, were released in the national park, a group of six ducklings have been captured on camera. 

Project Janszoon ornithologist Ron Moorhouse said while it was early days, it was "incredibly encouraging" to see the birds breeding in their first year in the park. 

A group of six brown teal ducklings were captured on camera in Hadfield Clearing, behind Awaroa in the Abel Tasman National Park. It is thought to be the first time the rare native duck has bred inside the park.

"It is the first time we think this has happened in living memory, that pāteke have nested and bred in the Abel Tasman."

He said the ducklings were believed to be a week or so old.

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