Rare sight

weka on their records.

‘‘Anyone tramping down there should keep their eyes peeled for it.’’

A white weka was also seen deep in the Kahurangi National Park in January 2018 outside Larrikin Creek Hut.

Project Janszoon ornithologist Ron Moorhouse said the genetic mutation that caused leucism was rare and spotting the weka was a ‘‘once in a lifetime’’ event. ‘‘You only see these kinds of things when a species or population is quite numerous because the chances of it happening are low, you need a lot of birds before you get these kinds of mutations coming together in the same individual.’’

Weka had all but disappeared from the Abel Tasman National Park in the 1980s and 90s. In 2006, the species was reintroduced at Totaranui using birds captured in the Marlborough Sounds. Moorhouse said the appearance of a white bird showed there were a lot of weka in the Abel Tasman and he estimated the populationto be in the thousands.

‘‘Weka have made this incredible recovery in this area and nobody, including me, really knows why.’’

For a flightless bird that nested on the ground, Moorhouse said weka had made a fantastic comeback.

‘‘They are tough survivors.’’