What Kim says I think is true. When I was in New Zealand in 1996 a number of
the males were considered to be past breeding age. Often these were the
dominant lekking male, and were thought to be preventing breeding by th
other males, particularly on Little Barrier Island. However, I think it was
later found that the main problem was that the habitat on LBI was
sub-optimal and once these birds were moved to Codfish and the rimu (the
podocarp tree) fruited the birds successfully bred. The numbers this year
are astounding and if even a quarter survive, then the species is looking a
bit more hopeful.
DoC used to (and probably still has) have a great volunteer program, which
was what I did on both Little Barrier and Chatham Islands. LBI was very
popular, because of its condition and also this is virtually the only way to
visit. DoC staff also had the option to work in a different Conservancy and
so when Codfish was "going off" many staff would go down for two week
stints. When I was on LBI we were fortunate enough to have to recapture one
of the birds to check its radio transmitter, but otherwise we never really
saw or heard them, even though was at the start of the breedng season and
the bowls were being used.
As Kim says, they may not do nest guarding any more, but the volunteer
program was a great way to see the better parts of NZ.
Cheers,
Peter
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