The Whio

habitat

• Whio like to swim in fast flowing clean water.
• They live near rivers and streams.
• The will defend their territory and attack anyone one that comes in a 1 km radius.
• They hide in log jams, caves and other places during the day.
• They are only found in New Zealand.

Appearance

• Whio have webbed feet to help them enable speeding fast flowing streams.
• Whio can malt between December and May.
• They have a lip on the end of their bill to help them scrape insects and bugs of rocks.
• Their feathers are blue and grey and help them camouflage themselves with rocks.

Threats

• Stoats are one of the biggest threats to Whio, because they attack the female on the nest, take the eggs and attack the ducklings.
• Habitat loss is also a big part of the reason why most Whio die.
• Also possums and rats are capable of stealing the eggs.

Habits

• Male Whio can have big fights over females and territory.
• The eat the insect larvae of bugs such as Mayfly, Caddisfly and Stonefly.
• Whio are mainly active in the early morning and late evening. They hide in logs, caves and other places during the day
• Whio can be very aggressive and can not be near other ducks, because they will attack them.

Young

• When the ducklings are born the Mum and Dad must keep them in a tight bunch and carry on travelling on the river.
• They can lay between 4-9 creamy white eggs a year.
• The male will stand near the nest guarding them, while the female sits on them.

What is being done to help

• When people that are rescuing and releasing whio into the wild check on the whio they have let out into the wild every month as the bird is becoming safer in the wild.
• When people are walking their dog by the river they are being asked to put their dog on a leash just in case you are near some whio or are in their territory.