'Flood' of weka sightings in Dunedin becomes a trickle

Weka look likely to disappear from Dunedin again, despite a breeding pair making their home in a northern suburb last year.

They used to live in the area - Otago Peninsula's iconic Hereweka translates to 'catch the weka' - but they were wiped out along the east coast of the South Island and now the nearest populations live a few hundred kilometres away.

Retired ornithologist Bruce McKinlay started to record weka sightings in the city over the last five years, after receiving credible reports.

"In February, March 2025, there was a real flood of them," he said.

McKinlay recorded about 76 sightings by September last year.

There were three clearly different groups of weka - a breeding pair in Normanby that had three broods of chicks, one at Seconds Beach at St Clair and one on the Otago Peninsula, he said.

Then the reporting unexpectedly stopped.

The last sighting of the St Clair weka was in October last year and reports of the Normanby weka stopped from about March, he said.

Only the weka on the peninsula remained.

"Weka, no matter how confident or bolshy you think they look, are susceptible to predation," he said.

Stories from iwi suggested weka were an important seasonal food in the area before European settlement and hapū would travel to harvest weka at the right time, he said.

They were vulnerable to environmental changes, and the introduction of mustelids, cats and dogs.

McKinlay said people had to be involved in the return of weka to Dunedin, as it was too far for weka to walk.

He urged people not to bring weka into the area, although acknowledged the curious birds [https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/regions_west-coast/559994/weka-hitches-a-300-kilometre-ride-to-christchurch

could have become stowaways].

"If you're going to think it's fun to bring a weka home, you are condemning it to eventually die," he said. "If we wanted weka back in Dunedin, it will take quite a lot of effort and co-ordination."

McKinlay believed the decision should be taken lightly, and was not risk free to weka or other native species.

Weka were a known predator of sooty shearwater and the one on the peninsula lived near the colony at Sandfly Bay.

"If you've got one precious taonga like the sooty shearwater and you've got another one that eats it, which one do you actually want?

"How do you actually make these choices to actually accommodate a predator within your landscape?"

McKinlay encouraged anyone who spotted a weka in Dunedin to log it with the DOC Hotline 0800 362 468.

He has reached out to previous weka spotters, but none of them reported further sightings.

McKinlay recorded their absences, saying it was part of their story in the city and painted a picture of how vulnerable weka were, if their arrival was not managed properly.

"One of the problems with this sort of work is the absence of records really doesn't attract people's attentions as much as the positive," he said.

"I think equally, it's important to try and collect the absences as much as the positives."