Male | October 2009

Artie was caught in cherry orchard net in 2009 resulting in a severely crossed beak. At an estimated ten years of age he is the oldest male in our breeding programme. Artie has been successfully paired with Mist, who arrived at the trust in September 2016 with a head injury. Within six weeks these two laid three eggs. The chicks were all males and have been successfully released.

Female | Arrived May 2012

Dash was found as a hungry juvenile bird in Kaikoura. Juvenile female falcons are not as fast as their brothers and need more to eat and often miss out on food especially in the witner months. This can lead to young females discovering the relatively easy prey of poultry or pigeons, which leads to persecution by people. Local school Rapaura named her Dash, following a student lead initiative to raise funds for the MFT. She is paired with Wilson and together have raised many chicks. She is a very protective mother.

Female | Hatched December 2011

Fern and her clutch mate, Swoop were hatched in Rotorua at Wingspan and gifted to MFT. Fern is our advocacy star! She has been trained by Diana Dobson, our Falconry Manager, since her arrival at MFT. Diana and Fern, in conjunction, with DOC do annual visits to local schools. Fern and Diana can be seen performing flying displays in partnership with legacy sponsor Brancott Estate.

Female | Arrived 6 March 2013

A bush falcon from Reefton who arrived with a broken right wing. She was very quiet, weak and underweight. Over a long period of time she was nursed back to health by Diana Dobson (resident falconer) - she gained weight, her wing did heal but she is unable to fly properly so cannot be released. We have paired her with Swoop and the two seem to do well together. The pair began breeding during the 2016 season.

Female | Arrived 14th September 2016

Found grounded at Misty Heights in Kaituna on Sept 14th 2016, Mist, an adult female falcon weighing just 442g was brought into the Trust. She had serious eye injuries and lacerations on her head,

Her left eye had no sight and her right eye impaired. It was evident Mist would not be able to return to the wild. After a lot of rehab, medication, plenty of warmth and tons of TLC she turned a corner and her introduction to Artie, our oldest male in the aviary, proved to be a real success. A month later she laid the first of three eggs, all successfully hatched and raised. Over 2 years this pair have had 6 chicks. 4 x males and 2 x females all of which have been released.

Female | Arrived 26 August 2014

Rimu was found in Wakefield, Nelson with an injury to both wings and severely underweight. An x-ray revealed she had sustained a broken ulna in her left wing, broken radius in her right wing and a BB shot was lodged in one of her joints. Rimu required lots of medication and very careful treatment to regain her health. Now housed with her mate Rocky at the Brancott Estate Heritage Centre - 180 Brancott Road, Blenheim.

Male | Arrived 2nd January 2013

Rocky was found in the Rakaia Gorge in Canterbury in December 2012 with a badly damaged wing. Taken to a clinic in Christchurch where the vet was forced to amputate his wing in order to save his life. He recuperated in Christchurch before being transferred to the MFT in January 2013. Rocky was named by the students of Raparua School - Rocky Raikaia. You can visit Rocky and his aviary mate Rimu at the Brancott Hertitage Centre - 180 Brancott Road, Blenheim.

Male | December 2009
(Right)

Napoleon was found as a chick in his nest with a thorn in his left eye, which was badly infected. He was taken into captivity and treated by the FFG team. The infection cleared but he lost the vision in that eye. Falcons require perfect vision to hunt and catch prey so Napoleon is not be able to be released. Insteasd he has become an advocacy falcon who has enthralled many young future conservationists. Napoleon entered our breeding programme in 2013 and is paired with Sara. In the 2016 breeding season this pair managed to double clutch (raise two sets of chicks in one year).

Female | Arrived July 2011
(Right)

Sara was found up the Awatere Valley on a property named Ballochdale. She had broken tail feathers, a damaged cere (beak), was incredibly weak and unable to fly. She was brought into the care of FFG where she gained weight andhas ben thriving eversince. She is paried with Napolean and each year they have laid clutches of eggs.

Female | Hatched 11 November 2015

Scout is an incubated chick from Sara and Napoleon. Sara laid four eggs that season but a week before hatching she damaged two of her eggs, prompting us to remove the remaining two.The eggs hatched and resulting chicks Scout and her sister Hera were hand raised by Diana Dobson and kept for advocacy. Scout in Blenheim and Hera in Canterbury. Scout is currently in training with Diana and will support Fern as a Marlborough super star one day.

Male | Hatched December 2012

Swoop is Fern's brother and was raised by his parents in captivity at Wingspan, Rotorua by Marlborough parent birds Ali and Wink. Swoop was later transferred back to Marlborough in February 2013 and is paired with Graye for the 2016/2017 season. Swoop was named by the students at Fairhall School in conjunction with Cameron (Y7 student) who raised $500 to adopt a falcon. One student designed a 'Falconers Bag' which allows handlers to organise and store their equipment within easy reach during advocacy visits.

Female | Arrived 22nd March 2016

On 22nd March 2016 Tussock arrived from Kaikoura. An adult female falcon, she was seriously underweight and had a closed right eye. She was found in a chicken coop, easy prey for a falcon unable to hunt. After many assessments and with no improvement shown to her injured eye, she was unable to be released back into the wild.

Paired with Norm in July 2016 this pair have produced 4 chicks in total, all of which have been released into the wild.

Male | Arrived November 2009

Wilson was wild hatched in 2009 in Puhi Puhi in Kaikoura and taken by the Falcons for Grapes (FFG) project in November 2009. When the project ended in 2011, the MFT took over the care of Wilson. In these years, Wilson has been an advocacy star, a father and a foster father. Wilson has raised many chicks since entering our breeding programme in 2012/2013 season. He is paired with Dash.

Male | Hatched October 2014

Chick from Dash and Wilson clutch. Incubated and reared by parent birds and would have been released with his sisters into the Waihopai Valley. He sadly broke his leg and has entered into our breeding programme after bonding with Tussock. Norm, named for the owner of Crafer and Crouch generously donated man-power, equipment and big machinery when we were expanding our aviary to accommodate all the rescued falcons, chicks and breeding pairs.

Female | Hatched November 2015

Hera was raised specifically for advocacy and pigeon scaring. Hera was handraised, which has resulted in her constantly calling out to her handler Victoria for food and attention, as a wild juvenile karearea would do when its parents are around. Although Hera is the sister of Tapuae, her character is entirely different: she is boisterous and bold, and shows little interest in the lure but loves catching food in flight. Hera did pigeon scaring at Canterbury University, but her current job is as an advocacy bird, where she is happy to sit on the glove and let the audience admire her beautiful plumage and hear the voice of a kārearea. Hera flies at approximately 600g.

Male | Hatched November 2014

Tapuae was raised specifically for advocacy and pigeon scaring, and has always had a good sense of fun. He is very active and loves to chase the lure and use his brain, dipping behind trees or flying into the sun to hide from his handler Rob. He did pigeon scaring at Canterbury University, flying around campus and herding the pigeons into small groups. Tapuae flies at approximately 300 g.