Local Focus: Otorohanga farmer hopes to breed rare dabchicks

It's a rare moment captured on camera - two baby dabchicks riding on the back of one of their parents.

With an estimated population of just 2000 dabchicks left in New Zealand, Otorohanga farmer Laurie Pottinger was understandably surprised when the rare dabchick appeared on his man-made pond in January last year.

But it wasn't just one dabchick - the Pottinger pond later became home to a whole family of birds, also known as grebes or weweia.

"They've come ever since, so probably in about July you'll get one turn up and then he'll be on the pond for two or three weeks," Pottinger said.

"Then he'll disappear and then he'll come back with a mate.

"That was the first successful season we've had them breeding on the pond, which was really amazing."

But there hasn't been any breeding dabchicks on the pond since and that's worrying for Pottinger because the dabchick population was in decline, and already extinct in the South Island.

"They're vulnerable to pests like all native birds, but they're also vulnerable in the way that they have their nests," he said.

"Their nests are made of floating vegetation, just on the side of banks on a lake would be their best environment, where there's stable water."

This left the nests vulnerable to waves from boats, which destroy the nests.

"Really, the only safe environment they've got left are farm ponds or sand dune lakes which boats aren't allowed on."

Pottinger said putting in his farm pond was part of a bigger vision for the property - planting trees and retiring unproductive pasture to help lower the farm's impact on the environment.

"That's all been done in the first three years," he said. "Just to improve it for the future and reduce that risk of erosion and sediment loss."

The arrival of the dabchicks was unexpected and welcome.

"[We're] quite a bit away from where they are usually so for them to turn up here is quite a bit of a bonus for what we've created."

They're hopeful that other farmers will follow their example in protecting New Zealand's precious pastures, and inadvertently native birds.

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