Did the increasing numbers of weka cause the 2025 sooty shearwater breeding season to be a complete disaster, or is there hope that both species might be viable on Puangiangi? The end of the sooty season brings only a small bit of information, but it’s good. This video explains.
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Thanks for the videos Barry. Great to see some titi chicks are making it through despite the presence of weka. Hopefully the fluttering shearwater might be able to nest in a burrow too small for weka to get inside.
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Hi Graeme- yeah I reckon chick survival is going to have a lot to do with how tight and convoluted the burrows are. At our fluttering shearwater attraction site this month, where the starter burrows have small diameter plastic pipes, a weka walked right to the entrance without seeing the FSH at the entrance. When they did see one another they simultaneously jumped backwards in fright. The weka then came back and spent a while trying to get up the pipe, with much beak jabbing, to no avail.
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Tough little critters. Never give up. Trying to do the same.
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There were two weka, maybe three on Tahoramaurea this past season. We did witness a titi chick being dragged away by a weka but something in the vicinity of 40 chicks fledged…according to E.O. bit of a contrast to kapiti where the weka are numerous and savvy. It seems complicated, like most things. Great having the cameras.
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