3 March 2025:

Our efforts to support the recovery of the takahē – a bird thought to be extinct until 1948 – have taken another step with the release of 18 birds in new territory.

The takahē were released in the Rees Valley south of Queenstown, after being raised in the Burwood Takahē Centre near Te Anau and the Orokonui Ecosanctuary in Dunedin.

Fulton Hogan representatives joined people from Department of Conservation, Ngai Tahu and Southern Lakes Sanctuary (a consortium of trapping groups) in releasing them.

The success of earlier takahē releases in the nearby Murchison Mountains and Greenstone Valley means those areas are reaching capacity, hence the Rees Valley this time. A further two takahē releases in the Rees Valley are planned for later this year, with the aim of establishing a population of up to 80 takahē in the valley.

“Finding wild sites with the right habitat and predator numbers low enough for takahē to thrive is a challenge – but the Greenstone, Rees, and wider Whakatipu areas provide high quality habitat,” says DOC’s Takahē Recovery Senior Ranger, Glen Greaves

Glen says he hopes people walking the Rees-Dart and Routeburn tracks will soon have a good chance of seeing takahē thriving in their natural wild habitat.

Predator control has been a priority, with Southern Lakes Sanctuary overseeing 500 traps in prime takahē breeding areas, targeting feral cats, in particular.

The total takahē population recently passed 500 and is growing at about five percent a year. More than half now live in the wild.

Takahē are a taonga (treasure) of Ngāi Tahu, unique to New Zealand and the largest flightless species of rail bird in the world.

Fulton Hogan is the national partner of DOC’s Takahē Recovery Programme which is also supported by New Zealand Nature Fund, Ngāi Tahu and Southern Lakes Sanctuary. The goal is one large self-sustaining population of takahē in the Upper Whakatipu, restoring takahē to whenua (land) they likely inhabited centuries ago.