The Department of Conservation is celebrating a record breeding season for the critically endangered takahē.

DOC’s Takahe Breeding Programme produced 50 chicks this year, while 16 hatchings were recorded in the wild population in the Murchison Mountains.

The combined total of 66 was a 40 percent increase on last year’s record of 47.

Conservation Minister Maggie Barry said takahē, once thought extinct, reached a population milestone of 300 last year.