KEY POINTS:
Forty of New Zealand's rarest ducks will be released into a mainland sanctuary near Warkworth today.
The brown teal, or pateke, will be taken to the Tawharanui Open Sanctuary at Tawharanui Regional Park.
The birds, from the Pateke Recovery Captive Breeding Network, will join the brown teal that were released a year ago.
Auckland Regional Council open sanctuary co-ordinator Matt Maitland said the release was a positive reflection on the progress the brown teal were making at the park.
"We know that at least half of the 24 birds released in 2007 are still living on the park and estimate that at least eight to 14 new chicks have hatched."
Mr Maitland said none of the birds was known to have died inside the predator-free open sanctuary and adjacent buffer zone.
Some of them had been spotted on neighbouring properties, including the nearby Christian Bay wetland.
Today's release is the second of up to four planned for Tawharanui over the next two to three years.
The brown teal was once widespread throughout New Zealand but is now restricted to Great Barrier Island, coastal valleys of eastern Northland and seven sites where they have been reintroduced.
A small brown dabbling duck with a distinctive whitish narrow ring around each eye, the brown teal was down to fewer than 1000 birds nine years ago. Just under 2000 are now living in the wild in NZ.
- NZPA
