One from the archives! By the 1990s Chatham Island tūī had all but disappeared from the main island. Slightly different to their mainland counterparts, these songbirds had survived on nearby Pitt and Rangatira islands. So a local conservation group decided to try bring them back. In this episode from 2010, Alison Ballance joins the ‘tūī team’ tasked with moving 40 birds from Rangatira island back to the main island.

From now on Our Changing World will arrive in your podcast feed first thing on a Tuesday morning!

Sign up to the Our Changing World monthly newsletter for episode backstories, science analysis and more.

In this episode:

00:00 – 02:30 Introduction and background info
02:30 – 12:14 Catching tūī on Rangatira Island

12:15 – 12:24 Team has caught 40 birds

12:25 – 24:46 Moving the birds to main Chatham Island

24:47 – 25:55 Update on the birds…

Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details