For 50 years, the takahē, a large, flightless, turquoise-and-blue relative of the pūkeko, was believed to be extinct, wiped out by hunting and introduced predators. Then in November 1948, Invercargill doctor and amateur naturalist Geoffrey Orbell followed up on old reports of strange bird calls and tracked a small population into the tussock valleys of the Murchison Mountains, deep in Fiordland behind Lake Te Anau. The rediscovery made headlines around the world and remains one of New Zealand's most famous conservation stories.
The Murchison Mountains were declared a special protected area soon after, off-limits to the public to give the birds a fighting chance against stoats and other predators. Decades of intensive Department of Conservation management, including captive breeding, predator control, and translocations to predator-free islands and sanctuaries, have slowly rebuilt the population from a few hundred birds to today's numbers.
Visitors to Queenstown and Te Anau don't need a mountain expedition to see one, though. The Te Anau Bird Sanctuary, just a short walk from the town centre, keeps a small resident group of takahē in a natural lakeside enclosure, making it one of the few places on Earth where you can look a living piece of 'extinct' history in the eye.
**Q: Where can I see a takahē near Queenstown?** A: The closest reliable spot is the Te Anau Bird Sanctuary, about a 45-minute drive from Queenstown, which keeps a small group of takahē in a free lakeside enclosure. Wild birds remain restricted to the Murchison Mountains behind Te Anau, which are closed to the public to protect them.
**Q: When was the takahē rediscovered after being thought extinct?** A: The takahē was rediscovered on 20 November 1948 by Dr Geoffrey Orbell in the Murchison Mountains, Fiordland, after being considered extinct since 1898. It's now managed under an intensive Department of Conservation recovery programme.
Source: Queenstown Tourism
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