Over $400,000 has now been donated to save the critically endangered Pukunui/Southern New Zealand dotterel, the world's rarest wading bird which is now only found in Southland.

Once widespread throughout the South Island, the small birds now only breed on Rakiura/Stewart Island. Some of them migrate to Awarua Bay to feed.

Just 105 of the small birds remain today, up from 101 last year.

DOC pukunui ranger Dan Cocker said that while the increase in numbers this season was just a small lift, it was hugely significant.

“We’re thrilled the April flock counts showed a population increase.”

“But 105 is still a perilously low number for this one-of-a-kind bird. We can’t take our foot off the gas.”

Pukunui numbers have fluctuated over the past 30 years due to different predators, but especially feral cats.

The population hit an all-time low of 62 birds in 1992 and bounced back to 290 after intensive predator control in 2009, before rapidly declining again despite continued pest control efforts.

DOC has a dedicated ‘Pukunui Recovery Team’ who work hard on bird monitoring, banding, and predator control at breeding sites and surrounding areas.

DOC Pukunui ranger Dan Cocker and NZ Nature Fund Chief Executive Sarah Lyttle. Photo: Supplied

NZ Nature Fund CEO Sarah Lyttle said in 2023 the Fund launched a campaign in partnership with DOC to raise funds from donors to support DOC’s Pukunui Recovery Team to protect pukunui from predators.

Over 600 people have already contributed to the pukunui campaign with more than $400,000 raised to date including $200,000 from an anonymous party and $20,000 from the Southland branch of Forest and Bird, Lyttle said.

DOC has used funds from these donations to boost the Pukunui Recovery Programme by employing additional trappers to target feral cats at nest sites, adding cameras around key breeding sites to monitor feral cat numbers, buying extra feral cat kill traps, and supporting more helicopter flights to monitor remote pukunui nesting sites.

“Enabling people to invest directly in projects that prevent extinction is our mission and it’s wonderful our donors have made a very tangible difference to the pukunui this season,” says Sarah.

“I hope this encourages more Kiwis to dig deep and invest directly in this precious endangered species.”

“Donations to New Zealand Nature Fund’s campaign boosted our ground trapping efforts, resulting in 64 feral cats being trapped across our predator control zones, that’s almost double what we caught last season,” says Dan.

"While the extra trapping efforts have benefited pukunui, we're barely holding the line for this species. We need to control feral cats across a much larger area where pukunui breed.”

DOC is currently considering a proposal for an aerial 1080 operation to protect nesting pukunui ahead of the 2025/26 breeding season.

The goal of the Pukunui Recovery Team is to increase pukunui numbers to at least 300 birds by 2035.

“We still have a long way to go to reach this goal,” says Dan. “The good news is if we work together, we can create safe havens for our taonga species by removing pests and restoring ecosystems.”

CLICK HERE to donate to help the plight of pukunui/southern NZ dotterels.