'Killing machine' takes down falcon

Hohoro, the largest and most dominant of three birds released in Martinborough, was attacked and killed on Saturday night by a predator, probably a stoat.

One of the young New Zealand falcons (karearea) released at Martinborough as part of a conservation project to see the birds re-established in Wairarapa has been slaughtered by a "killing machine".

A female falcon, Hohoro, was blown across a valley onto a farm and was killed by a stoat last weekend.

Hohoro was one of three of the raptors born in captivity at Rotorua's Wingspan Birds of Prey and put into a hack box at Escarpment Vineyard as part of a conservation project between the raptor sanctuary, DoC and Martinborough vineyard owners to bring the wild birds back to the district and as part of pest control for vineyards.

Within two weeks the birds were ready for flight. The hack box was opened and they could fly at will.

Project organiser Jane Lenting who is Palliser Estate Wine Cellar sales manager said the birds were a bit clumsy as they took to the sky at first.

Sadly, Hohoro, the largest and most dominant of the three birds got blown across the other side of the valley last week in high winds and was attacked on Saturday night by a predator, probably a stoat.

Hohoro had paired up with the male, Pari.

They found where the bird had been using a transponder.

Mrs Lenting said it was disappointing the bird had died.

"We have evidence she has been killed." A large percentage of the birds born in the wild didn't survive, she said.

"They are wild birds, very vulnerable to predators, that's the reason they are so rare. They nest on the ground. Most, about 80 per cent, don't survive past the first year," she said.

Stoats were a major problem. They had 40 stoat traps in the vicinity of the hack box but there appeared to be a phenomenal number of the predatory animals in the Wairarapa this year, she said.

"Even though we have the traps we are seeing a lot of stoats at the moment. It's incredible. There are lots of rabbits around which is food for them."

The two remaining birds, Honour and Pari have since paired up and are learning to handle flight in Wairarapa winds.

DoC Wairarapa/Manawatu projects manager Chris Lester said stoats were a major introduced predatory pest, especially from now through to the end of January as "juveniles" left the nest.

"They are very mobile.

"They kill to eat and they kill just for the sake of killing. They are just killing machines."

Wingspan falconer Debbie Stewart said while it was disappointing one falcon had died, she was "thrilled" the other two had made it past the "critical" 10-day release period.