Takahe teaser

Garry and I enjoyed a rare conservationist’s treat. We were lucky enough to see a family of endangered Takahē in active grazing mode at the Te Anau Bird Sanctuary earlier today.

 
As recently as 1983 only 118 of these large and chunky flightless birds remained. Today more than 440 are alive and thriving thanks to a concerted breeding program over many decades.

The Takahē was hunted extensively by Māori but were not named and described by Europeans until 1847, and then only from fossil bones. By 1898 the species was presumed extinct. However, fifty years later, after a carefully planned search, the South Island takahē was dramatically rediscovered in 1948 by Geoffrey Orbell in an isolated valley in the South Island's Murchison Mountains.