The Cape Kidnappers Wildlife Preserve is the site of an exciting seabird restoration project.
The preserve is also working to protect the endangered Brown Teal, a small low land duck species otherwise known as the Pateke. Visit www.brownteal.com/site/ and subscribe for regular updates.
The Cape Kidnappers Wildlife Preserve has huge potential for seabird restoration and this will be a major focus over the next few years.
"Apart from the flourishing gannet colony, the peninsula, like elsewhere on mainland New Zealand, has lost the ability to support colonies of breeding seabirds," say Tamsin Ward-Smith, manager of the preserve "Once they would have dominated the coastal and inland areas on the mainland."
The wildelife preserve team is constructing dedicated seabird and lizard restoration enclosures on the coastline. The project begins with the introduction of fully-grown chicks which will be placed in wooden burrows and hand fed sardine smoothies unitl they fledge.
A sound system in the nearby cliffs will play fluttering shearwater and grey-faced petrel calls to lure the birds back to the site.