The Department of Conservation first moved great spotted kiwi/roa to the area in May 2004 to set up a kiwi population in the Rotoiti Nature Recovery Project in Nelson Lakes National Park. It was the first reintroduction to the project of a species that had disappeared from the area.

Two years on, DOC staff are very pleased at the success so far in establishing the new kiwi population. DOC St Arnaud ranger Matt Maitland said the find last week of a chick bred in the project area had been especially encouraging. “We knew eggs had hatched but this was the first chick we have actually seen so we were rapt to find it.”

At least three eggs were known to have hatched in the Rotoiti project area, one last year and two this year, as indicated by egg remnants found in nests. Two further nests were considered possible this year as males stayed stationary for long enough to suggest they were incubating eggs but their burrows were not able to be located. The chick found last week comes from one of these presumed nests.

The chick is two to four months old. It was found in a burrow with its parents, Kahurangi (the male) and Awaroa, the only pair to nest last year. The chick weighs 550g, with adults weighing 2.4 to 3.3 kg. Very little is known about great spotted kiwi chick development; this is only the second chick of this kiwi species found in the wild in recent times.

The chick was found during annual checks of the eight adult kiwi which began last week. The kiwi are in good health. Their radio transmitters, which last about a year, are also being changed.

Mr Maitland said other chicks might yet be found while the adult kiwi are being tracked and checked but it was not planned to continue searches after that.

“We’ve taken a hands off approach with the kiwi and try to disturb them as little as possible as too much contact could unsettle them. Also, searching for kiwi chicks over an area of several thousand hectares is a bit like looking for a needle in a haystack. It’s possible we may come across other chicks sometime when we are working in the area.”

DOC staff plan to begin moving another five kiwi pairs to Rotoiti from Monday, 29 May, weather permitting. They are to come from Gouland Downs in Kahurangi National Park where the first kiwi came from. The birds will be caught and then flown by helicopter to Rotoiti a few at a time over several days.

“Bringing in more kiwi will create a more robust founder population,” said Mr Maitland. “Establishing a new great spotted kiwi population at Rotoiti is a trial as this kiwi species has not been relocated in recent times. The first phase has been successful with the kiwi staying in the area and breeding. As a next step, we now need to see how the new birds and those already resident at Rotoiti react with each other.”

The St Arnaud Alpine Village Store is supporting Bank of New Zealand Save the Kiwi work by collecting donations for the Rotoiti kiwi. Store owners Mark and Marianne Grimward have said they will match the amount given in donations.

Mr Maitland said DOC staff were very grateful for the donations.

“People in the St Arnaud Village have been fantastically supportive of our kiwi project and they have also been excited to hear the kiwi calling at night. We’d particularly like to thank Mark and Marianne Grimward for collecting donations and their generous gesture in matching this sum. The money raised will be used to buy two transmitters for kiwi chicks.”

Photo available as 1MB jpeg file. For this image, please contact Trish Grant, DOC media liaison, ph +64 3 546 3146, email tgrant@doc.govt.nz.

For more information:

DOC St Arnaud Area: Matt Maitland or John Wotherspoon +64 3 521 1806, or Trish

Grant, media liaison, Nelson, on +64 3 546 3146.

DOC kiwi information: Paul Jansen +64 4 471 3236 or 025 410 026