Albatross chick on road to recovery

Department of Conservation ranger Lyndon Perriman cares for the Taiaroa Head albatross colony's new celebrity chick at its foster nest yesterday. Photo / Sophie Barker

Dunedin's newest celebrity albatross chick could be reunited with its parents as soon as tomorrow.

Otago Peninsula Trust marketing manager Sophie Barker said the newly hatched royal albatross was looking ''fat and happy'' yesterday, a day after being placed in intensive care as its weight dropped.

The chick, which is yet to be named, forced its way out of its egg - and straight into the internet spotlight - on Saturday, as the new subject of the Department of Conservation's ''Royal cam'' live streaming web camera.

But by Tuesday, the little chick was in intensive care at the Taiaroa Head colony, after being found by Department of Conservation rangers to be fly-blown.

Yesterday, after extra feeding and antibiotics, the chick was ''perky, chirpy and hungry'' and its weight had bounced back, she said.

It was removed from intensive care and placed back in a foster nest, where it would continue to receive antibiotics, she said.

But, all going well, the chick would be returned to its parents' nest tomorrow, she said.

News of the chick's arrival on Saturday was met with excitement after its predecessor, Moana, shot to internet stardom last year.

Moana was the first chick to feature on Doc's Royal cam, and coverage of her progress attracted more than 600,000 views until she fledged, and flew away, last September.

Updates on the new chick's progress also attracted online messages of support from around New Zealand and as far away as Australia, the United States and England yesterday.