I have checked around and have not seen this news reported elsewhere. Apologies if it has. A $500,000 aviary complex for breeding black stilts is nearing completion in New Zealand - it is hoped the aviaries will be finished by the end of November. These aviaries could boost the Black Stilt Breeding Programmes' rearing capacity by an extra 60 birds per year and could result in 175 stilts being released into the wild each year. There are currently just 106 black stilts in the wild and 5 adult breeding pairs in captivity (2 pairs in Twizel where the aviary complex is being constructed and the remaining 3 in Christchurch). The new aviaries will mimic a braided riverbed with pebbles, tussocks and flowing water. Information can be found here: Construction of $500,000 aviary for world's rarest wading bird on track
The article doesn't mention the reason for the new aviary, which was that the previous aviaries were destroyed by heavy snows in 2015. The main aviary where chicks were flocked before release was completely destroyed and a second seriously damaged. For the last two seasons the facility has been severely curtailed in breeding because there was only one aviary left. The reason it has taken two years to recitify the situation is that the government isn't funding DoC properly. The new aviary isn't funded by the government at all - it is entirely from outside sources.
The black stilt breeding centre released 104 birds in August 2020, derived of both captive-bred birds and eggs collected from the wild (where survival to fledging is close to 0%). Between 2019 and 2020, the adult population of black stilts increased by 30%. Despite the good news, there were issues this year with heavy flooding in the middle of the breeding season - however conservationists are hopeful that the number of stilts will continue to increase in the wild. More information can be found in the link below: Captive breeding helps New Zealand’s threatened black stilts take flight
On 10th August, 143 captive-bred black stilts were reintroduced into the wild, at locations around the Mackenzie River basin. Some of the released birds are from a female named Māwhero, who is genetically under-represented in the wild. She originally had a successful breeding partnership with a captive male who died of cancer in February 2022. In November, a wild black stilt male was attracted to the breeding aviaries and showed a particular interest in Māwhero. When staff opened the aviary door, he entered and formed a pair with Māwhero. This new pair has been extremely successful, and raised several clutches of chicks. More information can be read in the link below: Critically Endangered waders released in New Zealand - BirdGuides
If wild bird chicks have close to zero survival rate, does it make any sense to just release more and more captive-bred birds into the wild? Would it not be much better to create instead sheltered places for chick rearing - like small isolated islands or restricted areas with anti-predator fences?
