Today I visited the Kārearea Falcon Trust, also known as the Marlborough Falcon Conservation Trust. Located in Blenheim, it is a facility that holds only the Kārearea or New Zealand Falcon (Falco novaeseelandiae) and breeds the species, with many of the offspring being reared for release into the wild. It also performs rehab of rescued adult Kārearea before returning them to the wild. When no breeding or rearing of chicks is ongoing, the Trust is open to limited tours by appointment for educational purposes for a few months of each year. This year, tours began in February and will finish in May. The public centre tour was the only kind of tour that was available on the day that I visited.
The tour that I attended at the Trust today consisted of an introductory talk, then a bit more than half an hour to see the falcons, and then a visit to a small combined education room and gift shop. The talk was interesting and it was during this that the facility's background was explained. The Trust currently holds 18 Kārearea as permanent residents, and has a rescued 19th one that is expected to be released after she recovers. This gives the facility the title of holding more captive Kārearea than anywhere else in New Zealand; it is also the only place in the South Island that is certified to breed Kārearea for release into the wild. Since the Trust began breeding Kārearea in 2012, 85 Kārearea offspring have been reared and released into the wild.
As for seeing the falcons, the public centre tour only offers views of the falcons through the glass and wire mesh of the enclosures; there is no outdoor flight show or any enclosures that are large enough to host a large number of visitors. The aviaries are within a long building and are on either side of a narrow corridor in the middle; each aviary contains either a lone falcon or a breeding pair of them. Visibility to within these aviaries varied quite a bit; some of them had a large area of glass and wire to see the falcons through, whereas others had nothing more than a window the size of the average envelope. Signage for the falcons is very detailed; explaining the origins of each individual and whether they have injuries that make them unreleasable. There is just one trained Kārearea at the Trust that is used for advocacy; a hand-raised female named Scout. The falcon-viewing part of the tour today ended with one of the staff members entering Scout's aviary and giving her some simple commands to show her off to the visitors; during this time Scout was also weighed and fed a dead House Sparrow.
It was an interesting facility to visit and I would recommend it to anyone who is interested in the conservation of endemic species in New Zealand.
The tour that I attended at the Trust today consisted of an introductory talk, then a bit more than half an hour to see the falcons, and then a visit to a small combined education room and gift shop. The talk was interesting and it was during this that the facility's background was explained. The Trust currently holds 18 Kārearea as permanent residents, and has a rescued 19th one that is expected to be released after she recovers. This gives the facility the title of holding more captive Kārearea than anywhere else in New Zealand; it is also the only place in the South Island that is certified to breed Kārearea for release into the wild. Since the Trust began breeding Kārearea in 2012, 85 Kārearea offspring have been reared and released into the wild.
As for seeing the falcons, the public centre tour only offers views of the falcons through the glass and wire mesh of the enclosures; there is no outdoor flight show or any enclosures that are large enough to host a large number of visitors. The aviaries are within a long building and are on either side of a narrow corridor in the middle; each aviary contains either a lone falcon or a breeding pair of them. Visibility to within these aviaries varied quite a bit; some of them had a large area of glass and wire to see the falcons through, whereas others had nothing more than a window the size of the average envelope. Signage for the falcons is very detailed; explaining the origins of each individual and whether they have injuries that make them unreleasable. There is just one trained Kārearea at the Trust that is used for advocacy; a hand-raised female named Scout. The falcon-viewing part of the tour today ended with one of the staff members entering Scout's aviary and giving her some simple commands to show her off to the visitors; during this time Scout was also weighed and fed a dead House Sparrow.
It was an interesting facility to visit and I would recommend it to anyone who is interested in the conservation of endemic species in New Zealand.