Portland Island<\/a> – south of M\u0101hia Peninsula in Hawke’s Bay.<\/p>\n![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/4PFUFIO_Shore_Plover_Mangere_04_05_2015_Credit_Dave_Boyle_jpg.jpeg\")
<\/p>\n
\nA shore plover in M\u0101ngere.
\nPhoto: Supplied \/ Department of Conservation\n<\/p>\n
The fledgling is a result of a feral cat control programme to increase the population by the community living on Pitt Island.<\/p>\n
Chairman Dave Houston said feral cats had eliminated the population on Pitt Island, as well as the mainland of New Zealand, in the 1870s.<\/p>\n
But the programme allowed the shore plover to breed and for their chicks to survive after hatching, Houston said.<\/p>\n
“The community were really engaged in that during the Jobs for Nature period after Covid.”<\/p>\n
![\"Shore](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/4JS601M_Shore_plover_mating_1_Image_Flowerpot_Bay_Lodge_jpg.jpeg\")
<\/p>\n
\nShore plover.
\nPhoto: Supplied \/ Department of Conservation\n<\/p>\n
Houston hoped for another fledging next year.<\/p>\n
“It really depends on the cats on Pitt Island.<\/p>\n
“We need sustained cat control to continue, or even better, to have the feral cats eradicated from the island.<\/p>\n
“That’s a bit of a long term project, but it’s sort of a glimpse of what could be if we could have cats eradicated and get double the shore plover population, so go from the current 250 birds in the total world population to maybe 500 or more. That’d be great.”<\/p>\n
![\"Shore](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/4JS601M_Shore_plover_fledgling_banded_on_Pitt_17_Feb_by_Gemma_Green_DOC_Image_Kate_Weston_2_jpg.jpeg\")
<\/p>\n
\nShore plover fledgling banded on Pitt Island.
\nPhoto: Supplied \/ Department of Conservation\n<\/p>\n
Sign up for Ng\u0101 Pitopito K\u014drero<\/a>, a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Shore plover fledgling banded on Pitt Island. Photo: Supplied \/ Department of Conservation The Shore Plover Recovery Group…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":318153,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[48,47,111,43,139,69,49,46,44,45],"class_list":{"0":"post-318152","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-zealand","8":"tag-audio","9":"tag-current-affairs","10":"tag-new-zealand","11":"tag-news","12":"tag-newzealand","13":"tag-nz","14":"tag-podcasts","15":"tag-public-radio","16":"tag-radio-new-zealand","17":"tag-rnz"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/318152","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=318152"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/318152\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/318153"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=318152"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=318152"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=318152"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
![\"Shore](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/4JS601M_Shore_plover_fledgling_banded_on_Pitt_17_Feb_by_Gemma_Green_DOC_Image_Kate_Weston_1_jpg.jpeg\")
<\/p>\n