Rare blue ducklings' first aquatic lesson goes swimmingly

Tuesday, 31 December 2019

Young whio/blue ducks have their first swim at Christchurch's Orana Wildlife Park. (Video first published in December 2019)

A brood of baby ducklings flocking to their first swimming lesson have taken to the pool like ducks to water.

The five 19-day-old whio, or blue ducks, took a dip at Christchurch's Orana Wildlife Park on Tuesday to learn how to fend for themselves once they fly the nest in about six months time.

Orana's native fauna manager, Catherine Roughton, said the pool session was a 'really important milestone for the ducklings', who had done 'exceptionally well'.

Blue duck/whio ducklings go for their first outdoor swim at Orana Wildlife Park.

Despite some initial reservations, all five ducklings slowly ventured out of their cage and were soon splashing and diving in pursuit of food.

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Whio are mainly found in Te Urewera, central North Island, Fiordland, the West Coast and northern South Island.

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'You're always going to get some brave ones and some that hold back a bit but they all got out there in the end.'

Male whio weigh about 1000 to 1300 grams and females are slightly lighter at 800 to 1000 grams.

Whio are endemic to New Zealand and one of the country's most threatened waterfowl species. They are rarer than some species of kiwi, mainly owing to predation. They don't get as much attention as the kiwi, but you might recognise them as the bird on the $10 note.

The ducklings' parents arrived at Orana in 2017 and have since produced more than 40 ducklings.

Orana Wildlife Park's Catherine Roughton helps care for the ducklings, who are identified by different coloured bands around the legs.

The newest brood aren't currently available for viewing, but their parents could be spotted in the aviary.

The whio features on the New Zealand $10 note.

The ducklings' swimming lessons will continue daily until they are about 40 days old. They will then be moved outdoors permanently, with limited human interaction. In mid-2020, they will be released into the wild, on the West Coast, to help boost the nationally vulnerable species.

Whio are one of the few waterfowl that live year-round on fast flowing rivers, Roughton said.

'They are like white water rafters so these ducklings need to quickly master their paddles.'

According to the Department of Conservation (DOC), whio are a key indicator of healthy rivers and streams. They require clean, fast flowing streams with high water quality, low sediment loadings and stable banks. The more breeding pairs there are, the healthier the river.

The whio programme rounded out a busy decade of native conservation efforts at Orana Wildlife Park, including contributing to breeding release programmes for pāteke and kiwi, and joining a breed for release programme for orange-fronted kākāriki, an ultra-rare species found only in Canterbury.

In partnership with DOC, 100 endangered Canterbury mudfish were transferred into waterways in November.

Four young Tasmanian devils joined the park in June, and a new waterbuck breeding bull arrived in October. November saw the arrival of a new spider monkey, and in December a young female giraffe arrived, while the first addax calves bred in New Zealand were born in April.

Orana is New Zealand's only open range zoo and is home to more than 400 animals from over 70 species.