Sue Bell lives in Northland, on Solomons Point, Parua Bay.  From this home base she has worked for the Department of Conservation for six years, based in its Whangarei Area Office.

Sue has spent five of her six DOC years working with kiwi.  The first year was spent on contract, monitoring vegetation.  When that ended, she was offered work monitoring Bank of New Zealand Kiwi Recovery Operation Nest Egg juveniles that had been released into the wild.  In 2001 the contract work became a permanent position.

An Amazing Bird

Sue loves kiwi.  “They are an amazing bird, and I think it’s their many peculiarities that attracts me to them.”

The best part of her job is when an Operation Nest Egg bird she has monitored since it was a juvenile grows up, finds a mate and produces chicks.

Low Point

The low point for Sue is a sad one. “We found one of our first Operation Nest Egg birds to breed in the wild, dead on his nest, killed by a ferret, with the egg stolen.  And it was raining.”    

Hope for the Future

Sue hopes kiwi will be able to live without the threat of predators, and that  kiwi chicks will be able to survive in the wild to grow safely to adulthood.  “I would like kiwi to still be around when I have grandchildren!”