Entire rare bird colony vanishes, baffling New Zealand scientists

Experts believe endangered shore plovers - known for their pluck and friendliness - might have flown away or been eaten by predators

A specialist search and recovery team has been deployed to recapture the last remaining survivors of a flock of endangered birds that absconded from a predator-free island in New Zealand during coronavirus lockdown.

There are only 250 shore plover or tturuatu left in the wild and they are the world's rarest plover. Conservationists have been painstakingly reintroducing them to the mainland after they were almost wiped out by cats and rats by 1880.