A summary of the talk given to the WekaWatch AGM on 29th March 2014
Basil and Ann Graeme have always loved weka with their feisty personalities and fascinating behaviour. In 1989 they had a dream, to reintroduce North Island weka to areas of the mainland where they had been numerous in earlier years but had now disappeared. It had been thought that the severe decline in their numbers, a 90% loss in the Gisborne area over the 1980s alone, had been due to drought, habitat loss and disease.
They knew that relocating adult birds did not work because weka have a strong homing instinct and as soon as they are released they head for home. One adult released in the Waitakeres in 1980, for instance, was found 3 weeks later in Taneatua in the eastern Bay of Plenty, heading for its home in Gisborne.
It was thought that relocating juveniles might be better and so the Graemes, with the support of the Department of Conservation and Forest and Bird, set up a captive breeding programme with about 15 breeders. Some pairs happily started producing chicks but in other cases the pair of weka did not like each other and refused to perform.
The Karagahake Gorge was chosen as a suitable mainland release site as there was plenty of bush in the area, it was close to the Kaimai Ranges, and had never had a drought. A pre-release aviary was built and the young birds transferred to it. After a few weeks, trapdoors were opened allowing the weka to move out into the bush and to return when they wanted to. For a time this seemed to be a success and weka were heard calling in the surrounding area; but there was a neighbour with a dog. If a weka went onto this property the dog killed it. The solution? The Graeme’s bought the dog and advertised it in Tauranga. “Free to a good home, friendly family dog, kills weka and chickens”. Problem solved they thought.
There were more Karangahake releases but they found these weka were being killed by ferrets. There had been a ferret fur farm nearby and when it failed the owner just released the animals to the wild!
So a decision was made to release the young weka onto islands where the predator problem would be very much less. In 1996 birds were successfully released onto both Whanganui Island in the Coromandel Harbour and Pakatoa. Pakatoa is just a short boat ride from Kawakawa Bay and our birds have a strong DNA link to these weka. Perhaps they were brought here when the weka on the island became too numerous. We will never know for sure!
The first confirmed weka report here in the Bay was in November 2004. Knowing that weka are so rare on the North Island mainland, our birds here in the Bay are national treasures. We must do everything we can to protect and enjoy them.