Black Swan are New Zealand's other species of waterfowl which may be hunted as game birds
Black Swan are New Zealand's other species of waterfowl which may be hunted as game birds:
Black Swan
The black swan is an Australian bird that flew into New Zealand last century at the same time as acclimatisers were releasing it, resulting in an explosion of numbers. However, from the 1970s on farm silt run-off killed the water plants that swan depend on.
Starving birds began to eat grass, leading to culls in which many thousands of the birds were killed until their numbers adapted to their impoverished circumstances. In other areas, where water plants persist, swan numbers remain strong so most regions can still allow limited swan hunting opportunities. The issue of lake pollution, and therefore the swans’ future, is one in which Fish & Game NZ takes a special interest.
Black swan are popular quarry with many hunters and are delicious to eat (resembling roast beef). Swans often fly off lakes in the evening allowing well positioned hunters to intercept them under their flight lines. Swans are often shot as incidental birds while waiting for ducks.