In 1948, when Dr Geoffrey Orbell rediscovered the takehē in the Murchison Mountains, it made world news. Seventy years on, the future of the bird once teetering on the brink of extinction is much brighter
First, we just heard rustling in the bushes. Then a loud call. We stopped and listened. Suddenly, poking from the tussock was a bright red beak, and then quietly, gracefully a large blue-green bird stepped, knees high, out onto the track. Being able to see a takahē – the bird that ‘came back from extinction’ […]
