Rare bird caught on camera at Travis Wetland

An extremely rare bird has been caught on camera thanks to the detective work of a Council park ranger.

Kenny Rose, a Field Ranger at Travis Wetland Nature Heritage Park, has been positioning a trail camera in parts of the park for the past few weeks to monitor bird populations. 

Council Park Ranger Kenny Rose with his trail camera at Travis Wetland.

He was surprised to find the hidden camera had recorded an image of the rare spotless crake, a bird that is similar to a pukeko but smaller, less colourful, and far less common. There were no sightings of the crake in urban Christchurch for over a century and it has been spotted here only a few times in the last five years.

Mr Rose is excited by the discovery and hopes there might be a breeding pair of the birds. “It was quite a good capture. It’s not something we normally see, it’s good to know they’re there.”

He plans to place the camera in other locations to check for more of the birds over the next few weeks. Triggered by movement, the small device is set up on a tripod in spots that are well away from the public access track.

Habitat restoration work seems to be paying off with growing numbers of birds making their home at Travis Wetland, Mr Rose says. “We’ve done a lot of native replanting, pest control and there has been an increase in the wetlands as the water table rose after the earthquakes.”

He has noticed an increase in the numbers of other rare water birds including the globally endangered bittern, of which there are only about 20 in Christchurch, and the “very secretive” nocturnal marsh crake, which he hasn't managed to capture images of yet.

Mr Rose says he has heard male bittern "booming" at Travis again recently and is hopeful there are some breeding pairs.

Council Regional Parks Wildlife Project Manager Andrew Crossland says Mr Rose’s spotless crake photo is very significant and an endorsement of the success of the park. “It’s fantastic and a really great result because this bird is a local rarity. It's cool because Travis Wetland was saved from urban development and turned into a reserve and it’s worked. Now we’ve got all these really rare species turning up. 

A spotless crake.

“All of these birds have come back under their own steam rather than being re-introduced and it’s way better if they find their own way to a site.”

He estimates there are about 20, or fewer, spotless crake living in the Christchurch area.

Travis Wetland Nature Heritage Park is an ecological restoration programme established on land in Burwood that was once a dairy farm. Christchurch City Council bought the land in 1996 and established the nature reserve.