The native New Zealand falcon is being used for pest control at the University of Canterbury. (Video first published in July 2016)

A trained falcon has chased away more than half the pigeons from the University of Canterbury – and another bird may be on the way.

The university and falcon trainers want to get that number up to 100 per cent. Meanwhile, Lincoln University is looking at getting in on the deal.

Tappe the karearea, or New Zealand falcon, was born in captivity and hand-raised by the Marlborough Falcon Conservation Trust.

Grant Matthew Rob Lawry with a New Zealand Falcon.

It got a job in humane pest control at the university late last year in a bid to clear mess-making and disease-spreading pigeons from campus, particularly around the history building.

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Handler Rob Lawry said Tappe had reduced the three or four flocks that haunted the campus to one or two.

Grant Matthew Falconer Rob Lawry with a New Zealand Falcon which he has been flying at Canterbury University as part of a pigeon control programme.

"We haven't managed to completely eliminate pigeons from the university ... That last flock is pretty hard to get rid of."

Lawry said it was a tough job for one falcon, especially as Tappe was a 300-gram male, and pigeons were at the "very top" of what he might hunt in the wild.

The conservation trust is training a 620g female karearea, who may join Tappe in the next couple of months.

DEAN KOZANIC Hundreds of pigeons are plaguing the University of Canterbury campus.

Tappe flies at the university three times a week. The flights were recently changed from dawn to dusk, which seemed to be more effective.

Because karearea were low flyers – unlike traditional high-flying pest deterrents like peregrines – trainers had to train the bird to fly higher.

If the falcon was in the sky above the pigeons, they saw it and made themselves scarce.

Tappe loved his work, Lawry said. "He gets real excited. It's something fun for him to do."

It was great for the trust, he said, because the university paid for the service, and because of the opportunity to educate people about the threatened species.

The rare endemic karearea is often confused with the more common harrier hawk, which is found throughout Australasia and the South Pacific. The Department of Conservation estimates there are only 5000 to 8000 karearea spread around New Zealand.

A University of Canterbury spokesperson would not say how much it spent on the initiative, citing commercial sensitivity because of a review of the deal at the end of the year.

Lawry said Lincoln University had indicated its interest in using a karearea to deter pigeons. That task would be easier with just one building to clear.