Footage of a feral cat stalking a sleeping albatross chick in Dunedin is a "wake-up call'', the Otago Peninsula Trust says.

Webcam footage captured a feral cat stalking a sleeping Northern royal albatross chick sleeping at Taiaroa Head on Tuesday night.

Department of Conservation ranger Lyndon Perriman said the ginger cat was "light on its feet'' when stalking the chick - which hatched in January.

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Rangers first saw the cat in the nature reserve about three weeks ago.

The cat was not a threat to the 8kg chick but it would have been different if the cat had attacked the chick when it was first left alone in March, he said.

Trust marketing manager Sophie Barker labelled the footage as a "wake-up call''.

"It's a protected area. It's not great to see something like that.''

That was especially since blue penguins on the heads had been breeding and chicks were expected to be nesting on the headlands soon.

A feral cat could kill a penguin chick, she said.

Taiaroa Head manager of operations Hoani Langsbury said the ginger cat was still at large on the headland.

"We have had sightings of it by visitors and we've been hunting it but we haven't been lucky enough to dispatch it yet.''

The "kill traps'' placed near a known den of the cat had been baited with fresh fish.

The cat had since moved on "to another location on the headland''.

The cat was alone and not part of a family, he said.

Mr Perriman said Doc staff have seen carcasses of sooty shearwater chicks in the reserve.

The chicks were probably killed by either a cat, stoat, ferret, rat, gull or harrier.

Taiaroa Head did not have a predator-proof fence, he said.

"It isn't possible as it's a weak foreshore zone - and all predators can swim. Stoats are known to swim over 2km.''

However, Taiaroa Head had the longest running continuous predator control programme for introduced predators in New Zealand.

The programme was started in the 1960s for the protection of albatross and the removal of predators had been "hugely beneficial'' for other seabirds on the headland.

Doc staff had caught 33 rats, five stoats and one ferret within the reserve since October.