Education
Southern Institute of Technology students struck gold during a recent field trip when they spotted rare takahē birds roaming wild in the Greenstone Valley.
The Bachelor of Environmental Management Year 1 students were on a three-day expedition in mid-March to learn backcountry skills like GPS navigation and apply classroom ecology theory when they made the unexpected discovery.
Student Kadin Foster described seeing the takahē as "quite incredible", noting the birds had only been reintroduced to the area a couple of years ago. "We had found droppings and evidence [but] there was no guarantee we would see anything. We were just there to look at their habitat."
"It was from quite a distance. We were in a valley with a river running through it. We saw them across the other side of the valley, I spotted their blue heads and bright red beaks just above the tussocks," Foster said. The group was so far away the birds appeared unaware of their presence, with photos showing the undisturbed pair barely visible in the tussock.
For the Invercargill local, who found the tramping challenging, "Seeing the takahē was the highlight of the trip and being able to see more of back country Fiordland and Otago is quite a privilege."
Distance learning student Chantelle van Wyk travelled from the Coromandel to join the field trip. Originally from South Africa, she initially didn't grasp the significance of the sighting. "It's very specific to culture; everyone was very excited, initially I didn't understand; the likelihood of seeing the bird was so rare."
Van Wyk nearly missed the moment after stopping for a rest. "It was right at the end of the walk. Jordon encouraged me to keep going so I got up and carried on another three hundred metres; if I hadn't, I would have missed them. The experience as a whole was amazing."
Programme Manager Jordon Traill was thrilled to share the experience with students. "I never thought I'd be lucky enough to see the birds in the wild, to have them roaming free in the Greenstone Valley shows how healthy our forests and ecosystems can be with effective predator control."
The group also spotted other rare native birds including yellow-crowned parakeets and kaka on the tribal land. "The valley was alive with native birds. It's great that DOC's recovery programme is going so well we are seeing them returning to more valleys through the South Island."
Traill emphasized hands-on learning: "We can talk about conservation all day, but to witness a bird once thought to be extinct, running wild in a valley is to really understand conservation."
Takahē were rediscovered in 1948 after being thought extinct. The total population now exceeds 500 birds, with over half living at wild sites including 200 in Murchison Mountains, 70 in Rees Valley and 20 in Greenstone Valley.