Ready to soar!

The 2022 ōi season is shaping up to be the most successful one yet, and marks a record since we had the first seven chicks fledged in 2017.

Long-term intensive predator control along the Whāingaroa Coast and on Karioi is the main reason why we are set to see 12 Ōi/Grey-Faced petrel chicks fledged by Christmas.

This will bring the total seabirds fledged from Karioi over the last 6 years to 47 Ōi chicks and at least 4 Kororā / Little Blue penguins! 

This is no mean feat when you consider that prior to this all that was found inside a burrow was an abandoned egg or a dead chick.  This result is testimony to a community that has come together and made a real difference to a threatened ecosystem. 

We are especially grateful to the Karioi team of “burrow buddies” - volunteers who have literally shed blood, sweat, and tears but went out anyway when the going got tough—every week checking traps in vulnerable coastal habitat around these seabird burrows and to monitor seabird activity between April to December.

We are grateful to the fabulous Jo Simms and her species dog Miro. This dynamic duo found a few more Ōi burrows as well as Kororā burrows.  

We would love to add more burrow buddies to the team next season, so if poking your nose into seabird burrows sounds like your cup of guano, please get in touch.

The footage below from our monitoring cameras showing juvenile ōi spreading their wings and preparing to launch themselves into life at sea.