Department of Conservation staff are "pretty gutted" over the death of an albatross chick at Taiaroa Head after the young bird was crushed by its mother in the nest.
The 5-day-old chick died on Tuesday afternoon, after its mother became restless in the warm weather and began shifting in the nest, Doc Taiaroa Head ranger Lyndon Perriman said.
The mishap happened on the same day a report in the Otago Daily Times celebrated the successful hatching of all 17 chicks.
Doc communications manager Andrea Crawford said the chick's body was removed by Doc staff at the colony, leaving the male adult to search unsuccessfully for its missing chick upon its return from a deep-sea fishing flight.
"He was apparently looking around the nest and trying to figure out where the chick was," she said.
Mr Perriman said an irrigation system was used to spray the birds with a cool mist on hot days, but strong wind on Tuesday meant the mist did not reach the female.
Mr Perriman went to collect a spray bottle to cool the mother, but returned to find the chick had already been crushed.
The chick - its gender had not yet been determined - weighed just 350g, while the adult mother weighed about 7kg, Mr Perriman said.
"That was the end of it, really," he said.
It was not unusual for chicks to be trodden on by their parents while in the nest, and chicks had died of their injuries in the past, but their chances of survival in such cases grew as their size increased, he said.
It was also not uncommon for adults built to withstand colder conditions to show signs of heat exhaustion, including "panting . . . just like dogs do, to try to cool down", he said.
Tuesday's mishap occurred when the temperature for the birds in long grass would have been even higher than the surrounding air temperature, he said.
"A lot of the birds were panting . . .
"This particular bird was quite heavy in her panting.
She was under quite a bit of stress," he said.
Mr Perriman said he attempted CPR after recovering the crushed chick, by squeezing its chest, but "it wasn't to be".
The dead chick was the oldest of the 17 to hatch in recent weeks, but was not the chickwhich gained international media attention for being cared for by two female adults, Mr Perriman said.
An autopsy would be carried out and results were expected in several weeks.
