Protecting Sooty Shearwaters from local extinction on New Zealand’s Kapiti Island

Sooty Shearwater, photograph by the West Coast Penguin Trust

The Kapiti Island Nature Reserve lies off the west coast of New Zealand’s North Island.  It is open to the public via organized tours and is free of introduced predators (rats were eradicated in 1996).  However, its small population of Near Threatened Sooty Shearwaters Ardeanna grisea is threatened by the Vulnerable (and equally protected) Weka Gallirallus australis that preys on its eggs and chicks, leading to a conservation quandary.  Now, Information from the December 2025 online newsletter of the Ornithological Society of New Zealand and a video show that plans are afoot.

Saving the Titi Colony from Extinction on Kapiti Island

“We are incredibly excited to announce our partnership with @kapitiicecream to support the @docgovtnz's project to Save the Titi Colony from Extinction on Kapiti Island, New Zealand. Titi or Sooty Shearwater are a taonga (treasure) to local iwi and are under threat from another Taonga (and native species), the weka bird.  The Department of Conservation is working on a 3-year project to save the colony which is on the brink of collapse.  This project will identify ways to reduce predation by weka and experiment with novel exclusion methods, supported by robust monitoring of nesting success over several seasons.  At the same time, it explores the indigenous knowledge about each of these species, their history on Kāpiti and how that Mātauranga Māori can guide long term management.”

Read an earlier article in ACAP Latest News on the conservation problem on Kapiti here (and see details of an earlier exclusion fence with escape ramps here).

John Cooper, Emeritus Information Officer, Agreement on the Conservation of Albatrosses and Petrels,04 March 2026