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Native Brown Teal - Source: ONE News -
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Fiordland National Park has proven such a successful new home for New Zealand's native Brown Teal, or Pateke, that a second much bigger release of ducks has just been taken in.
Last year 20 Brown Teal were released in the area as a trial run and 14 are believed to have survived.
Another 39 of New Zealand's rarest mainland waterfowl have joined them.
The birds have been trained to feed from hoppers, which will keep them going until they get used to finding their own food.
Their only major threat in Fiordland is stoats, so extra traps have been laid on top of the Department of Conservation's usual predator control.
More releases of the ducks are planned, with another 200 set to go to Fiordland over the next five years.
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