Rare ducks head south

MASTERTON - Twelve rare Campbell Island teal ducks were banded yesterday ready for their release on predator-free Whenua Hou Island, in Foveaux Strait.

Fewer than 100 of the ducks, the world's rarest, survive.

Jim Flack, of the Department of Conservation in Masterton, said the flightless, nocturnal ducks were native to the subAntarctic Campbell Island, 600km southeast of New Zealand.

Introduced predators such as cats and rats had destroyed the resident population, and only 20 pairs remained on nearby Dent Island, a 27ha rock.

Mr Flack said the department was using its small breeding populations at Whenua Hou and Mt Bruce, near Masterton, to release ducks into the wild every year.

Because Dent was too small to take more birds, the ducks bred at Mt Bruce - six chicks and six adults - would be transported to Whenua Hou in mid-May.