Operation Nest Egg Milestones

In the 2002/2003 breeding season the first third-generation egg was laid – the chick’s grandfather was one of the original Operation Nest Egg chicks hatched at Auckland Zoo.

In 2007, Kiwi Encounter hatched its 500^th chick, and Auckland Zoo its 150^th.

In February 2008, Hūpai hatched at Kiwi Encounter.Sadly, Hupai died in her second year.

In Hawke's Bay, the 100^th eastern brown kiwi chick was hatched and released by the Environment, Conservation and Outdoor Education Trust.

With the addition of great spotted kiwi in 2007, BNZ Operation Nest Egg™ is now being used on all four of the five formally recognised kiwi species - only little spotted kiwi are not involved.

In 2010, Operation Nest Egg chicks were used to establish new populations of Haast tokoeka on Coal Island (Fiordland) and in a new 300-hectare kohanga kiwi near Dunedin, the Orokonui Ecosanctuary.

The success of Operation Nest Egg with rowi has allowed 20 young birds to be released into the northern part of Okarito forest to expand the existing population. It has helped the rowi population increase 100%.

The future

To help ensure Operation Nest Egg remains a useful tool, a husbandry manual is being developed.

This will include:

• A national system for collecting and analysing data to allow comparisons to be made between species and techniques, and identify best practices. These will become national standards for egg handling, incubation and chick rearing.
• Co-ordinating the activities of incubation and creche facilities, sharing information, and identifing where new facilities may be needed.
• Comparing the costs and benefits of Operation Nest Egg compared to other kiwi conservation tools (such as large-scale predator control) so that the best tool is applied in each specific situation.