An update on the under bird – Pukunui Southern NZ Dotterel

22 nests, 62 eggs, 14 chicks hatched so far.

Fourteen tiny chicks have hatched high on Rakiura's Tin Range, the first signs that a $275,000 community effort might just save New Zealand's rarest wading bird from extinction. 

The southern New Zealand dotterel breeding season is underway with cautious celebration. Department of Conservation's Pukunui Recovery Team has found 22 nests, 62 eggs, and 14 newly hatched chicks scattered across Rakiura Stewart Island's remote mountain tops. 

With only 105 adult pukunui left in the world, every single chick matters. These birds are critically endangered. They’re the rarest wading birds on the planet. 

A night for the Pukunui  

Back in September, over 200 people gathered at Walter Peak for our annual Conservation Ball.

Former DOC Director General Lou Sanson MC'd the evening. Comedian Te Radar led a spirited auction featuring extraordinary prizes - including two weeks supporting kākāpō breeding season on Whenua Hou, a full-day helicopter tour of Rakiura's remote Tin Range and Port Pegasus with Lou Sanson, courtesy of Stewart Island Helicopters, and one of the original propellers from the 113-year-old TSS Earnslaw. The Rakiura DOC team brought their stories from the front line explaining just how precarious the pukunui's situation had become.

The Conservation Ball raised $169,395 in a single night. Combined with RealNZ's 1% online booking commitment (July-September), staff fundraising events, and the Fiordland Classic golf tournament, the total exceeded $275,000.

"This event shows what can be achieved when we work together," Sia Aston, DOC Deputy Director-General Public Affairs, said. "This money will go directly into helping bring the pukunui back from the brink."

Investing in protection that lasts

The $275,000 is going straight to DOC's field operations - improving and extending existing predator control networks across Rakiura's pukunui breeding habitat. Parts of the project area currently have low trap density, where adding traps will improve predator control. RealNZ funds are maximising protection across these gaps, creating a more comprehensive network that gives breeding birds their best chance of survival. 

Breeding season progress

These precious manu don't make it easy. Pukunui don't nest in colonies - they spread over the full length of Rakiura Finding them takes patience, experience, and a willingness to spend long days scanning remote ridgelines. 

Recent storms have tested the new families. Chicks spend much of their time sheltering under their parents' wings, waiting out the weather. There's no guarantee all 62 eggs will hatch, or that chicks and parents will survive. Last year, around 20 adults were lost to predation, but 24 chicks made it through - a net gain that offers genuine hope. 

“To see these little chicks emerge brings hope that we can save them from extinction," DOC Rakiura Operations Manager Jennifer Ross says the hatching brings genuine hop 

From January onwards, survivors will make their way down from the mountains to Rakiura beaches and Awarua Bay. It's a rite of passage - their first real test of flight. New birds will be banded to track their survival and inform future protection efforts.

Conservation enabled by community 

Before predators arrived in New Zealand, pukunui bred throughout the Southern Alps. Now they exist only on Rakiura's mountain tops - survivors clinging to the last refuge available to them. 

"It is extremely heartening to see all corners of our community step up to help protect this precious taonga," says RealNZ CEO Dave Beeche. "From organisations who donated auction prizes, to partners and the wider Queenstown business community who supported so generously, to staff-led initiatives like the 1% project and quiz nights across Queenstown, Te Anau and Wānaka."

RealNZ's purpose is to help the world fall in love with conservation. The pukunui project is that purpose in action - but it only works because of the community who stepped forward. 

The work continues. The breeding season stretches ahead. The cats will return. But right now, on the windswept tops of the Tin Range, fourteen  and learning to take their first steps.

And that's worth celebrating. 

Gold sponsors

Special thanks to our Gold Sponsors: 

Stewart Island Helicopters