The Flickr Notornis Image Generatr

South Island Takahe, Takahe, Notornis, Porphyrio hochstetteri, 63 cm / 24.8 in. VERY RARE ENDEMIC. CRITICALLY ENDANGERED. Natural range is now tussock land and beech forest. Introduced to protected refuges and predator-free islands for conservation management.

Nature Reserve, Tawharanui Regional Park, North Cove, Auckland Region, North Island, New Zealand.

©bryanjsmith.

Porphyrio hochstetteri or notornis. Flightless bird in New Zealand

New Zealand's iconic survivor from an age of large flightless birds, such as the Moa, now extinct. The South Island Takahē is now on the come-back trail with 130 breeding pairs, an increase of 300% in recent years. This one was being looked after in Wellington's Zealandia Sanctuary.

The takahē (Porphyrio hochstetteri), also known as the South Island takahē or notornis, is a flightless bird indigenous to New Zealand, and the largest living member of the rail family. First encountered by Europeans in 1847, just four specimens were collected in the 19th century. After the final bird was captured in 1898, and no more were to be found, the species was presumed extinct. Fifty years later, however, after a carefully planned search, takahē were dramatically rediscovered in 1948 by Geoffrey Orbell in an isolated valley in the South Island's Murchison Mountains. The species is now managed by the New Zealand Department of Conservation, whose Takahē Recovery Programme maintains populations on several offshore islands as well as Takahē Valley. The species has now been reintroduced to a second mainland site in Kahurangi National Park. Although takahē are still endangered, the population now numbers over 300 and is growing by 10% a year.

Takahe, Notornis, Porphyrio hochstetteri, 63 cm / 24.8 in. CRITICALLY ENDANGERED and once presumed extinct. Now intensely managed and has recovered to a population of just over 300 birds. VERY RARE and ENDEMIC A large flightless rail in tussockland and beech forest in mountains. INTRODUCED to Tiritiri Matanga and other predator-free islands.

Bird Sanctuary and Research Center, Tiritiri Matanga Island, Auckland Region, North Island, New Zealand.

©bryanjsmith.

At Orokonui Ecosanctuary.

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South Island Takahe, Notornis, Porphyrio hochstetteri, 63 cm. / 24.8 in. Flightless large rail. VERY RARE ENDEMIC and CRITICALLY ENDANGERED rail of rank grasslands, tussock-land and beech forest. Our guide, Erik Forsyth found this satellite-tagged bird and another individual foraging together. An enormous swamphen-like bird with fewer than 350 remaining (each individual bird has a name).

Tawharanui Regional Park, Northland Region, North Island, New Zealand.

©bryanjsmith.

The (South Island) Takahē or Notornis (Porphyrio hochstetteri) is a rare flightless bird indigenous to New Zealand. This unique bird, - the largest living member of the rail family (Rallidae) -, was once thought to be extinct. There were only 4 recorded sightings of Takahē between 1800 and 1898 and then none were seen until 1948 when, after a carefully planned search effort, a few pairs were rediscovered by Geoffrey Orbell near Lake Te Anau in alpine grasslands in the Murchison Mountains, South Island. The species have not made a stable recovery in this habitat since they were rediscovered. A related species, the North Island takahē (P. mantelli) or Mōho is extinct and only known from skeletal remains.

DESCRIPTION
The Takahē is a stocky, sedentary bird with a massive red beak, pink stout legs and reduced wings. The colour of an adult is mainly purple-blue with a greenish back and inner wings. It has a red frontal shield and red-based pink bill. The Takahē overall length averages 63 cm and its average weight is about 2.7 kg in males and 2.3 kg in females. The standing height is around 50 cm. Sexes are similar, the females being slightly smaller.

BEHAVIOUR
The Takahē is currently found in alpine grasslands habitats. Although it is indigenous to swamps, humans turned its swampland habitats into farmland, and the Takahē was forced to move upland into the grasslands. It holds territories in the grassland until the arrival of snow, when it descends to the forest or scrub. It eats grass, shoots and insects, but predominantly leaves of Chionochloa tussocks and other alpine grass species.

The Takahē is monogamous (with pairs remaining from 12 years to, probably, their entire lives), builds a bulky nest under bushes and scrub, and lays one to three buff eggs. The chick survival rate is 73-97%. Recently, human intervention has been required to maintain their breeding success. The success of fledgling is relatively low in the wild compared to other, less threatened species, so methods such as the removal of infertile eggs from nests and the captive rearing of chicks have been introduced to manage the Takahē population.

MAJOR FACTORS IN THE DECLINE OF TAKAHĒ
The near-extinction of the formerly widespread Takahē is due to a number of factors: over-hunting, loss of habitat and introduced mammals have all played a part. One suggested reason for decline is that the environmental variations before the European settlement were not suitable for takahē, and exterminated almost all of them. Survival in the altering temperature was not tolerable by this group of birds. Takahē live in alpine grasslands, but the post-glacial era destroyed those zones which caused an intense decline in their numbers. The spread of the forests in post-glacial Pleistocene-Holocene has contributed to the reduction of habitat. Also the arrival of Polynesian settlers, about 800-1000 years ago, who brought dogs and Polynesian rats and hunted Takahē for food, has started a significant decline in their numbers. In addition, European settlement in the 19th century almost wiped them out through hunting and the actions of introduced mammals such as red deer (Cervus elaphus) which competed for food and predators such as stoats (Mustela erminea).

EFFORTS FOR PROTECTION
The original recovery strategies and goals set in the early 1980s, both long-term and short-term, are now well under way. One of the original long-term goals was to establish a self-sustaining population of well over 500 Takahē. The population stood at 263 at the beginning of 2013, showing a slow but steady growth over the previous few years.

In the wild the species is still present at the location where it was rediscovered. Small numbers have been successfully translocated to 5 predator-free offshore islands, where the birds also receive supplementary feeding. The Takahē island meta-population appears to have reached carrying capacity as revealed by the increasing ratio of non-breeding to breeding adults, and declines in produced offspring. Such results pose problems regarding the maintenance of genetic diversity and thus Takahē survival in the long term. Thus increasing translocation rates of Takahē from the New Zealand mainland onto island sanctuaries may not be effective unless “surplus birds are removed”.

The Department of Conservation (DOC) runs a captive breeding and rearing programme at the Burwood Breeding Centre near Te Anau. Chicks are reared with minimal human contact, being fed and brooded through the use of puppets and models. The offspring of the captive birds are used for new island releases and to add to the wild population in the Murchison Mountains. The DOC also manages wild Takahē nests to boost the birds' recovery. Surplus eggs from wild nests are taken to the Burwood Breeding Centre.
Source: Wikipedia

Two flightless birds South Island takahe (Porphyrio hochstetteri), Orokonui Ecosanctuary, Dunedin, Otago, New Zealand

South Island takahe (Porphyrio hochstetteri), Orokonui Ecosanctuary, Dunedin, Otago, New Zealand

My first ever view of a young Takahe previously believed to be extinct since 1948.

This South Island Takahe was at Tiritiri Matangi on December 2011 in Auckland, New Zealand His name is Graham.