The harvest of tītī, known as muttonbirding, could be under threat as climate change begins to alter its ecosystem
On a rainy and moonless night, on a cluster of tiny uninhabited islands scattered near the bottom of New Zealand, Rakiura Māori hunters are heading out for another night of hunting tītī chicks, a native seabird considered a delicacy for its oily meat.
The hunters gently place their feet in the tracks carved out by their ancestors and now worn deep into the earth from generations treading the same paths. Careful not to disturb the birds’ burrows, the hunters scan the ground with their torches.
