Climate change blamed for fall in number of whio breeding pairs
Climate change and severe weather events are being blamed for a drop of nearly 200 whio breeding pairs in the past year. A Department of Conservation blue duck count found 694 pairs in monitored areas this year. In 2021, there were 862. Whio are only found in New Zealands fast-flowing waters. Its estimated there are fewer than 3000 nationwide, which is rarer than some kiwi. READ MORE: * Funding boost to help protect whio at Nelson Lakes * Survey shows threatened whio population climbing, proof recovery programme working * Endangered ducks to be released into new Canterbury home The endemic species is being threatened by climate change-related severe weather events, such as torrential rainstorms and droughts, which are taking their toll on an already fragile landscape, an expert says. Department of Conservation whio recovery group leader Andy Glaser said severe weather was putting whio in a vulnerable position. Rain could create wet and cold conditions for young ducklings their survival rate had dropped by half over the past two years, he said. In 2019/2020 fledglings numbered 430, while this year there were only 219. Glaser said bad weather forced whio to head down side streams to look for food, where they were more likely to be attacked by predators, as they didnt have their primary form of defence: a big body of water. We can try to control the likes of predators which are a manageable threat, but when it comes to climate change we cant really do much about that in the short term, Glaser said. What we like to think is that through creating resilient and robust populations, we hope to withstand the impacts of climate change. New Zealand has been experiencing a large number of severe weather events in the past two months . MetService data showed this June held second place for the most lightning strikes in a single month since detailed records began. Overall, whio populations have been doing rather well over the past few years prior to this dip, due to a long campaign of reducing predator numbers, he said. New Zealand needed to create a stable environment for whio and make sure the population was resilient enough to manage when weather events came along, he said.