---
title: "Sixty-seven Mottled Petrel chicks go flying in two helicopters and a plane to their new home"
---

# Sixty-seven Mottled Petrel chicks go flying in two helicopters and a plane to their new home

Sixty-seven [Near Threatened](http://datazone.birdlife.org/species/factsheet/22697963) [Mottled Petrel](http://nzbirdsonline.org.nz/species/mottled-petrel)*Pterodroma inexpectata* chicks were relocated from Codfish Island/Whenua Hou off the southern coast of New Zealand last week.  They were taken to a fenced site in the forested 800-ha Boundary Stream Scenic Reserve in the Maungaharuru mountain range, 24 km inland from Hawkes Bay on North Island.  The reserve is known as a “[Mainland Island](http://www.doc.govt.nz/our-work/mainland-islands/boundary-stream/)” where intensive control of mammalian predators is carried out.  The chicks will be hand fed in artificial burrows until they fledge, in the expectation they will return after a few years to the locality as breeding adults.

 Starting in 2014, this is the fourth time the species has been moved to the area as part of the [Poutiri Ao ō Tāne](https://www.facebook.com/poutiri/) project, bringing the total number of relocated chicks to over 200.

 [http://www.doc.govt.nz/our-work/mainland-islands/boundary-stream/](http://www.doc.govt.nz/our-work/mainland-islands/boundary-stream/) ![](https://www.acap.aq/images/stories/acap/Birds/Petrels/Petrels/Mottled_Petrel.jpg)

 Mottled Petrel and chick

 Previously, 50 [Vulnerable](http://datazone.birdlife.org/species/factsheet/22697975) [Cook’s Petrels](http://nzbirdsonline.org.nz/species/cooks-petrel) *P. cookii* chicks were translocated to the reserve in 2013, with 86 following in 2014 and more over the next two years.

 “[Poutiri Ao ō Tāne](http://www.poutiri.co.nz/) is a unique collaborative ecological and social project aimed at bringing native wildlife back into the lives of people in Hawke's Bay”.[http://nzbirdsonline.org.nz/species/cooks-petrel](http://nzbirdsonline.org.nz/species/cooks-petrel)

 **Selected Literature:**

 Adams, J., Burns, R., Fastier, D. & Hogan, K. 2008.  [*Boundary Stream Mainland Island Strategic Plan 2008 to 2018*](http://www.doc.govt.nz/Documents/conservation/land-and-freshwater/land/boundary-stream/boundary-stream-strategy.pdf).  Gisborne: Department of Conservation.  21 pp.

 Hozumi, A., Loznik, B., Chen, Y.W. & von Takach Dukai, B. 2011.  *[Seabird reintroduction to Boundary Stream Mainland Island.  A strategic guide to the translocation and management of procellariiform birds at Boundary Stream Scenic Reserve](http://www.doc.govt.nz/Documents/getting-involved/students-and-teachers/seabird-boundary-stream-guide.pdf).*  Wellington: The Seabird Group, School of Biological Sciences, Victoria University of Wellington.  49 pp.

 Sagar, R.L., Leseberg, A., Ken Hunt, K., Nakagawa, K., Dunphy, B. & J. Rayner, M.J.  2015.  Optimising translocation efforts of Mottled Petrels (*Pterodroma inexpectata*): growth, provisioning, meal size and the efficacy of an artificial diet for chicks.  [*Emu*http://dx.doi.org/10.1071/MU1405](http://www.academia.edu/26106458/Optimising_translocation_efforts_of_Mottled_Petrels_Pterodroma_inexpectata_growth_provisioning_meal_size_and_the_efficacy_of_an_artificial_diet_for_chicks).

 *John Cooper, ACAP Information Officer, 19 April 2017*