The scheduled field trip in mid-March saw SIT Bachelor of Environmental Management Year 1 classes: EM102 (Work Environment Skills), with Tutor, Dr Enzo Reyes, and EM104 (Terrestrial Ecology), with Programme Manager/Tutor, Jordon Traill, head to the Greenstone Valley for three days to learn backcountry skills such as using GPS, reading coordinates and applying the ecological theory they had learnt in class.
Student, Kadin Foster, describes seeing the takahē as “quite incredible”, as they had only been reintroduced into the area a couple of years ago. “We had found droppings and evidence [but] there was no guarantee we would see anything. We were just there to look at their habitat.”
“It was from quite a distance. We were in a valley with a river running through it. We saw them across the other side of the valley, I spotted their blue heads and bright red beaks just above the tussocks.” Mr Foster says their group was so far away that it appeared the takahē were unaware of their presence and photos confirm the undisturbed pair of birds barely visible in tussock.
The sightings were a nice reward for the Invercargill local, who says the tramping on the field trip was quite tough. “Seeing the takahē was the highlight of the trip and being able to see more of back country Fiordland and Otago is quite a privilege.”
HyFlex student, Chantelle van Wyk, came down from the Coromandel to join the field trip as part of the first block course of the year. The distance learning student enjoyed the camaraderie of the trip and getting to know classmates. “I really enjoyed forming bonds with the other students," and she valued the opportunity to connect with different age groups. “That’s something I wouldn’t usually be able to do outside the course.”
Originally from South Africa, Ms van Wyk says to begin with she didn’t realise the significance of seeing the takahē in the wild. “It’s very specific to culture; everyone was very excited, initially I didn’t understand; the likelihood of seeing the bird was so rare.”
She was thankful not to have missed the brief sighting after stopping for a rest. “It was right at the end of the walk. Jordon encouraged me to keep going so I got up and carried on another three hundred metres; if I hadn’t, I would have missed them. The experience as a whole was amazing.”
Programme Manager Jordon Traill was pleased to have shared the experience with students so they could gain a better appreciation of what conservation is. “I never thought I'd be lucky enough to see the birds in the wild, to have them roaming free in the Greenstone Valley shows how healthy our forests and ecosystems can be with effective predator control.”
As well as spotting takahē, the group also saw and heard many other rare bird species on the Ngai Tahu land, such as mōhua, kākāriki and kākā. “The valley was alive with native birds. It's great that DOC’s recovery programme is going so well we are seeing them returning to more valleys through the South Island.”
Murihiku Ngāi Tahu through Kaitiaki Rōpū (guardians) are also involved, having supported the takahē recovery programme from its inception.
Mr Traill states the School of Environmental Management sees the best classroom as the outdoors. “We can talk about conservation all day, but to witness a bird once thought to be extinct, running wild in a valley is to really understand conservation.”
After their legendary rediscovery in the Murchison Mountains by Dr Geoffrey Orbell in 1948, it has been a rocky road to population increase for the formerly thought-to-be-extinct takahē. According to the Department of Conservation website, a stoat plague in 2007 wiped out half the wild population which took nearly a decade to rebuild. The total population is now over 500, and more than half of all takahē now live at wild sites - around 200 in Murchison Mountains, 70 in Rees Valley and 20 in Greenstone Valley. The rest live across the country at 18 sanctuary sites that support a breeding programme based at DOC’s Burwood Takahē Centre near Te Anau.