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At this time of year the birds pair up and prepare burrows to lay eggs. “To see so many around now is certainly a good indication they are either breeding here, or trying to,” he said. The birds, which mate for life, are vulnerable to stoats due to their slow and clumsy behaviour when on the ground and nesting in burrows. Introduced predators are one of the main reasons the petrels have become so rare on New Zealand’s mainland, and the reason main breeding colonies remain on predator-free offshore islands. The only other mainland colony in Taranaki is protected by a predator-proof fence at Rapanui, near Tongaporutu, in North Taranaki, Shanley said. ....
Three of the kiwi being brought onto Pukeiti on the Kaitake range. Photo: RNZ / Robin Martin The release is a milestone in a battle against predators on Kaitake being waged - for the most part - by a small army of volunteers. Kaitake, at 680 metres, is the oldest of the three volcanic cones in Te Papakura o Taranaki. It forms the north-western boundary of the national park and its sun-loving semi-coastal forest reaches to the outskirts of the seaside settlement of Oakura. Ngā Mahanga a Tairi hapū member Tane Manu said kiwi once came into the village. Ngā Mahanga a Tairi hapū member Tane Manu, right, greets Towards Predator-Free project manager Toby Shanley. ....
“I was expecting we would get two to five stoats a year around here,” he said. “Already in the first two months we have caught 10, and I know of another farm where 27 have been caught.” GLENN JEFFREY/Stuff Whitehead shows off a stoat caught in one of the Podi predator traps set up on the farm. Whitehead encouraged other Taranaki farmers to join the predator-free programme. “Most of the farm owners have volunteered to be part of it and there a few who haven’t for their own reasons, which I can’t understand. “It’s no real benefit to my farm except to get rid of stoats which kill native, and ground nesting, birds. ....