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The connection between Maori and kiwi is long-standing and strong.
Call Count Monitoring
Counting the number of kiwi calls is one way to estimate the size of a population.
When calls are monitored in the same place over several years, it helps build a picture of what is happening with kiwi numbers and distribution – are you hearing more, fewer or the same number of birds? Are they in the same places, a smaller area, or has the population expanded over more ground?
When a kiwi population is being managed, the call count results should show the benefits.
Useful resources:
- Formal monitoring programme
- Informal monitoring programme - kiwi call scheme
- Kiwi report card
- Kiwi call count monitoring training package
- Junior kiwi certificate
The Department of Conservation has a formal kiwi call monitoring programme, run as part of BNZ Save the Kiwi.
Staff and volunteers visit specific sites at specific times. In Northland and the five kiwi sanctuaries this happens every year. Elsewhere, it is usually on a five-yearly cycle.
Anyone interested in helping with kiwi call monitoring should contact your local Department of Conservation office.
Informal monitoring programme - kiwi call scheme
The informal kiwi call scheme is open to anyone who visits the backcountry and can distinguish kiwi calls from those of weka, morepork and possums.
The scheme allows kiwi distribution to be determined, and the call rates allow researchers to work out a coarse index of how many birds there are.
The informal kiwi call scheme uses kiwi reporting cards. These can be filled in by anyone who spends time in the hills – trampers, hunters, freshwater fishers, farmers – if any evidence of kiwi is found, such as feathers, probe holes or footprints.
When you next go into the wilds, take a kiwi reporting card with you – they are available from Department of Conservation offices.
Send completed cards to:
Rogan Colbourne – Research and Development, Department of Conservation, PO Box 10420, Wellington 6143.
Kiwi call count monitoring training package
This package of resources is for an experienced person to use when training community volunteers in how to monitor kiwi calls. It includes a training booklet, a CD of various calls to help people learn the difference between kiwi and other similar sounding animals, and a certificate for anyone who completes the training.
The package was created by Wendy Sporle. To request the package, email This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
If you have any questions about call count monitoring, please contact Wendy (Email: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it ).
You can download a PDF copy of our "Junior Kiwi Certificate" to print out and hand out to children who have been learning about kiwi, the threats they face, and have also listened for kiwi and can identify between male and female calls.
Kiwi & Maori
The connection between Maori and kiwi is long-standing and strong.
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Did You Know?
Older kiwi are feisty and able to defend themselves with sharp claws and strong legs, but they are still killed by dogs and ferrets.