Emma brings bird back from the brink

Since Emma Neill arrived in Whangarei four years ago, she has succeeded in nearly doubling the population of Northland's critically-endangered - and yet little known - pateke or brown teal duck.
Now she's looking at ways of better managing their habitat so their numbers continue to climb.
Until now, Ms Neill, a Department of Conservation worker, said the "guts" of the recovery programme had been controlling the ducks' many predators, including cats, dogs, stoats and rats.
When she arrived on the scene, there were only around 200 pateke in Northland and their numbers were declining rapidly.
"They could've been extinct in five to 10 years, so I decided to turn on the predator control," she said.
Her strategy proved successful and the population climbed, slowly but surely, to around 350. Now, Ms Neill plans to improve the pateke's habitat to help get them off the endangered list once and for all.
She said the wetlands, estuaries and forest streams that pateke call home were under threat. Wetlands were being drained so the land could be developed, estuaries were being reclaimed and forests were being cut down.
With the help of locals with land adjacent to the Whananaki and Mimiwhangata flocks, she hoped to make the birds' immediate surroundings better suited to their nocturnal, highly secretive existences.
She also planned to investigate and improve the quality of the ducks' diet.
Eventually she hoped to establish flocks in other parts of the country.
Because pateke were not as "high-profile" as birds such as the kiwi and kakapo, Ms Neill said it was difficult to get enough funding. The programme received government money, but would also benefit from local business sponsorship to help save what she called "Northland's iconic species".
"New Zealand evolved as a land of birds which is what makes us so special, so unique," she said. "Other countries have native animals and ancient buildings, but we have birds. That's why it's so important to look after them."
Neill, who has worked for DOC for 10 years, moved to Whangarei from her native South Canterbury especially to help save the pateke from extinction. She has already been instrumental in reviving the population of another critically endangered native species, the black stilt or kaki.
? Brown teal/pateke facts:
? Brown teal ducks or pateke are a critically endangered native species.
? Northland is home to the sole surviving mainland population, although about 800 to 900 live on Great Barrier Island.
? They are a small, nocturnal species which can fly but choose to live a mostly terrestrial existence.
? The current population in Northland is about 350, up from about 200 in 2001.
? The Department of Conservation predicts they face "imminent extinction" without intervention.
? They are sometimes referred to as the New Zealand "rubber ducky" because of their resemblance to the bathroom toy.