Kōtuku return to Whataroa in mid-September to nest each year. Photo: White Heron Sanctuary Tours
There are 56 nesting pairs of kōtuku or white heron at Aotearoa's only breeding spot for the birds on the West Coast this year.
Each year the birds disperse widely across the country before returning in mid-September to nest at Whataroa on the South Island's West Coast.
The bird is rare in New Zealand, with nzbirdsonline stating there is a small but apparently stable population of 100-120 kōtuku. The birds are common throughout Asia and in Australia, where they are generally known as eastern great egrets, it said.
Dion Arnold of White Heron Sanctuary Tours said chicks were hatching at the nesting site every day.
"It's a wonderful sight to see these birds arriving back in each year for nesting and then to have their chicks hatching there at this time of the year with the super number of nests around, 56 nesting pairs, the most we've had in recent years."
There had been a couple of successful breeding seasons over the last few years mainly due to the reduction of pests and predators, he said.
"A lot of work being done around this region trying to eliminate the rats, stoats and possums."
Most nests were able to hatch two or three chicks and were usually successful in raising them, he said.
But it would depend on the weather conditions and food supply during spring and summer which were variable, he said.
Asked what he thought of US talk show host John Oliver's attempt to get people to vote for the pūteketeke, or Australasian crested grebe, as Bird of the Century competition, Arnold said we could not control that.
Instead, Arnold urged people to vote for the kōtuku for Bird of the Century.
White heron / kōtuku nests at the White Heron sanctuary in Whataroa on the West Coast. Photo: White Heron Sanctuary Tours
