Matuku-hūrepo

 Rare Birds Find Safe Haven

See video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-vpqO1_visY

Jenny Kerrisk hid and waited for hours to photograph one of the shy Matuku-hūrepo (Australasian bittern) now living at Nowell's Lakes, Hāwera. Years of riparian planting around the Nowell’s Lakes walkway near Hāwera have paid off with the discovery that a colony of critically endangered birds have moved in.

Although Matuku-hūrepo are very well camouflaged and will freeze when approached, South Taranaki bird enthusiast Jenny Kerrisk was able to snap photographs of some of them by patiently waiting for hours. With 90% of the wetland habitat they live in lost across the country, the birds were classed as nationally critical or near to extinction.  It was not known how many were currently left, but the last count done in 1980 tallied just 700 birds across the North and South Islands.