Kereru © James Allan
19th December 2025
This year has brought some truly remarkable bird sightings across the Whakatipu, from rare wetland visitors to familiar natives settling in for the first time. Our native birdlife is responding to the hard mahi happening across the region.
For years, kākā have been occasional visitors to our region, gorgeous birds passing through on their journeys between national parks. But 2025 has been different-for the first time, kākā have stayed with us for an entire year rather than just passing through.
Throughout the year, kākā have been spotted regularly at the southwest corner of Lake Hayes, feasting in the kowhai trees. In Lake Hayes Estate, residents have been delighted by kākā visiting their fruit and nut trees, a wonderful reminder that our gardens can provide valuable habitat for native wildlife, so let’s keep them safe! They’ve also been observed in the native forest remnants at Sawpit Gully and Bush Creek, where community trapping efforts have been steadily reducing predator numbers.
“Definitely seeing more tūī and bellbirds this spring,” shares Jo Booker. “Saw a kererū and heard a kākā in Bush Creek last autumn/late summer.”
The kākā’s decision to stick around speaks volumes about the improving conditions for native birds in our area. As predator numbers drop and habitat quality improves, our community trappers are creating an environment where these amazing taonga can thrive year-round.
In October 2025, we recorded our first-ever sighting of a marsh crake at Shotover Wetland – a truly special moment for local biodiversity. Marsh crake are cryptic wetland birds and spotting one is always cause for celebration.
This sighting is particularly meaningful given the decade of dedication that Shotover Primary School students have invested in wetland restoration and trapping at this site. Their consistent efforts – year after year of planting, trapping, and caring for this wetland – have created exactly the kind of habitat that threatened wetland birds need.
The marsh crake’s appearance is important as they are considered indicator species for wetland health. They only appear where wetlands provide high quality, diverse habitats and rich food supplies. Well done Shotover Primary for all your mahi in this special area!
One issue we see for the marsh crake pair at Shotover Wetland is domestic cats. A recent trail camera survey in the area showed 44 images of cats in the wetland at night, with most of them appearing to be pets (fancy breeds or collars). Cats are a major predator of these ground nesting, threatened birds. There is only one reason for cats to be in the wetland at night, and that is hunting. Do you know where your cat is at night? Help the marsh crake and keep your cat inside at night!
On 7 November 2025, 14 dedicated volunteers joined us for the Great Matuku Muster – a nationwide synchronised count of Australasian bittern. As the sun set, our teams stationed themselves at wetlands across the region: Moke Lake, Matakauri Wetland, Shotover Wetland, the southwest corner of Lake Hayes, and Malaghans Valley. For 60 minutes, they listened intently for the distinctive booming call of male bitterns.
Although no bitterns were heard during our count this year (a Glenorchy group listening that same evening also heard none), we know from audio recorder data that matuku do visit our wetlands. With only an estimated 250-1,000 bitterns left in all of Aotearoa New Zealand, these birds are on the brink of extinction.
The muster has sparked important conversations about how we can improve our wetland habitats to encourage matuku to return and, hopefully, to stay and breed. Along with Routeburn Dart Wildlife Trust, we’ve had a productive meeting with the Love Bittern organisation and are exploring ways to enhance our wetlands specifically for bittern habitat. Sometimes conservation is about playing the long game – creating the conditions now for the birds we hope to see in the future.
After so many high river flows this spring, we didn’t hold high hopes for our black-fronted tern and black-billed gull colonies this year. But on 4 December 2025, these remarkable birds showed us what resilience truly looks like.
Twelve community volunteers joined us to survey the Lower Shotover River/Kimiākau from Big Beach to the confluence with the Kawarau River. It was an ambitious undertaking, made possible through fantastic partnerships with Shotover Jet, RealNZ/Queenstown Rafting, KJET,Tucker Beach Wildlife Reserve,Southern Lakes Sanctuary and WWT.
Our river team worked systematically down the braided river channels while a land crew counted birds roosting and foraging in the Whakatipu Basin and between Queenstown Bay and the river confluence. The coordination required was impressive – we needed to avoid double-counting birds “commuting” between the river and their feeding areas, particularly the highly mobile terns.
The survey revealed something unexpected: chicks had survived the previous week’s flooding when the river surged to 385 cubic metres per second. Despite being repeatedly hammered by high spring flows, our black-fronted terns and black-billed gulls had persevered, and many of their chicks had made it through.
We (well actually the indomitable Dawn Palmer) will be comparing our results with the 2021 and 2024 surveys to understand population trends, but the preliminary findings are encouraging. The full results are still being analysed, but what’s already clear is that these braided river specialists are tougher than we might have given them credit for.
The bird quotes we’ve been collecting from around Arrowtown tell a consistent story: abundance is increasing in our backyards.
“We counted 25 tūī on our feeder and trees today,” reports Sian Sanford. “We regularly have 10 tūī and 2 bellbirds.”
“This year the tūī and silvereye have been in abundance in our garden, way more than usual,” says Nicky Busst. “Even a few bellbirds swing by occasionally who are my fav.”
Helen from Arrowtown shares her observations: “We’ve spotted a flock of tomtits on Sawpit Gully a few times recently and only used to see the occasional one up there in years gone by. We regularly see them on the Bush Creek track too. We also have falcons nesting above our house and I’m mesmerised every time they fly over.”
Roger Somerville describes an amazing moment: “There is a big tree near the back entrance of the school that had ten young tūī on it at one time a couple of months back, all singing to each other. It was extraordinary.”
Frances Mary McFarlane puts it in perspective: “In the 25 years I lived in Arrowtown, the tūī increased so much from very few occasionally to lots all year round daily.”
We are stoked with this collective testimony that shows what happens when communities commit to predator control and habitat restoration.
Bird monitoring is essential to understanding whether our conservation efforts are working. We need your eyes and ears to help us track bird populations across our project areas.
If you’re already a keen birder, we’d love your help with official seasonal bird counts in our project areas.
If you’re new to birding, join us for one of our birding days out! There’s no better way to learn about our native birds than spending time in the field with experienced observers. We provide training, equipment (we have spare binoculars), and plenty of enthusiasm. Check out the Merlin and Ebird apps or www.birdsonline.org to start familiarising yourself with our native species.
Want to join our bird monitoring efforts? Contact us at hello@whakatipuwildlifetrust.org.nz
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