Four new kiwi chicks for Tawharanui

ARC open sanctuary coordinator Matt Maitland checks the new kiwi chicks at Tawharanui Regional Park.
Image: Alison Stanes (TOSSI)

Tawharanui Regional Park is celebrating the arrival of four new kiwi chicks.

Auckland Regional Council (ARC) park staff and Tawharanui Open Sanctuary Society Inc. (TOSSI) volunteers had been monitoring the movements of two male kiwi, Geo and Hercules, who had shown signs of egg incubation and yesterday confirmed that the eggs have hatched successfully.  These four chicks add to the known six chicks hatched by these two male birds last year.

ARC open sanctuary coordinator Matt Maitland says that it is likely that other young kiwi have hatched within the open sanctuary.

"Only some of our adult kiwi have radio transmitters which help us monitor their behaviour and gives us an idea how the population is faring," he says. "It is likely that other birds have successfully hatched eggs in the wild and are doing well."

Tawharanui Regional Park staff and TOSSI volunteers continue to carefully monitor the progress of the sanctuary's kiwi population and other wildlife from a distance says TOSSI deputy chair Steve Palmer.

"Finding these four chicks topped off a satisfying day. We also saw our grey faced petrel (oi) chick happy and fat in his burrow, a New Zealand dotterel nest with two newly hatched chicks at Jones Bay and a clean tracking tunnel survey of the sanctuary," says Mr Palmer.

The ARC acknowledges the input of volunteers and staff in maintaining these important bird populations.  Fence checkers, trappers, and surveillance monitoring teams help provide a safe environment for these birds to thrive.  The ongoing monitoring carried out by the kiwi team is especially important in helping to stay in touch with the activities of these birds.

"This work endorses the approach taken in the Department of Conservation's latest kiwi recovery plan in which community groups will take a key role in assisting the recovery of kiwi populations nationally," says ARC natural heritage team leader Dr Tim Lovegrove.

Forty-four kiwi were released into the Tawharanui Open Sanctuary between November 2006 and September 2008, signalling the return of North Island brown kiwi to the Auckland mainland for the first time in around 60 years.

For more information about Tawharanui Regional Park go to http://www.arc.govt.nz/ and TOSSI go to http://www.tossi.org.nz/.