Mobile Menu Open Mobile Menu Close
back back back

Successful translocation of Snares Island snipe (Coenocorypha huegeli) to replace the extinct South Island snipe (C. iredalei)

  • Publication Type

    Journal Article

  • Publication Year

    2012

  • Author(s)

    C.M. Miskelly; M.R. Charteris; J.R. Fraser

  • Journal Name

    Notornis

  • Volume, Issue

    59, 1&2

  • Pagination

    32-38

  • Article Type

    Paper

  • DOI

    https://doi.org/10.63172//903073qgezbh

Keywords

Coenocorypha huegeli; ecological analogue; ecological restoration; island restoration; rewilding; Snares Island snipe; taxon substitution; translocation


Successful translocation of Snares Island snipe (Coenocorypha huegeli) to replace the extinct South Island snipe (C. iredalei)

Notornis, 59 (1&2), 32-38

C.M. Miskelly; M.R. Charteris; J.R. Fraser (2012)

Article Type: Paper

Attachment


Download

Deliberate taxon substitution is a much discussed but rarely enactioned concept in restoration ecology. We describe the successful establishment of a translocated population of Snares Island snipe (Coenocorypha huegeli) on Putauhinu I, which lies alongside Taukihepa (Big South Cape I), the last stronghold of the extinct South Island snipe (C. iredalei). Thirty Snares Island snipe were captured on North East I, Snares Is in Apr 2005 and released 3-5 days later on Putauhinu I. A survey on Putauhinu I in Mar 2011 resulted in the capture of 54 descendants of the released birds and a population estimate of at least 320 birds. This is one of few documented translocations of an organism with the specific objective of replacing a closely related extinct taxon. As a result, the Snares Island snipe is probably more abundant than at any time in its evolutionary history.