Rowi Project Blog

I was fortunate to have my Mum visiting from the UK recently, and had the opportunity to take her out on an egg rescue – a once in a lifetime opportunity for a New Zealander let alone someone from across the world!

The eggs we were after were right in the middle of the 11,000 ha Okarito kiwi zone. We would go in, go for the eggs and rendezvous at Alpine Lake hut to be airlifted out…hopefully with at least two rowi eggs.

We planned to be dropped in by helicopter then follow up to the higher reaches of Five Mile Creek into the gorge section where there were two kiwi transmitters showing that the birds were sitting on eggs. It would be a big day but we were confident of success.

About two hours walk after being dropped off we approached the gorge. Tracking from this kind of position can be difficult as signals from the transmitters can bounce around the steep valley sides…meaning that choosing the right signal to follow is tricky.

The first bird we tracked was reasonably easy, being on a large, flat section of relatively open forest…however, he (we predominantly put transmitters on males as they are thought to do more of the incubation) was on his own in a small day shelter. Definitely no egg here and no sign of the female. Disappointing - but there are no easily won eggs in this game - we would be back another day for this one.

Using telemetry gear to track rowi

The true left looked like easier terrain so I chose that way, explaining to Mum that we may be coming back down this way if I was wrong! Up, up and up, and I had the sinking feeling that we were on the wrong side of the valley…but still couldn’t be sure so about half way up I dropped off the gear and left mum waiting while I bashed right up to the top to check.

Nothing there! I turned around 180 degrees and boom - a huge blast of signal from the opposite valley side - I had chosen the wrong slope to climb. Time was running out, with just over three and a half hours to get to the pick up point at Alpine Lake hut. This hut was about half an hour walk from where I was right now but we had to go in the opposite direction to follow the signal.

I bashed back down to where Mum was waiting and apologised for dragging her half way up the wrong valley side. Down, down, down to the creek then up, up, up the true right valley - very steep and thick bush but at least lots to hold on to while hauling yourself through.

We followed the signal for another 40 minutes or so, traversing quite a long way upstream until the telltale sign of a ‘clicking’ signal came through to show that we were getting close. Another 20 minutes and we were there…next to a huge root boll of a southern rata with a hole in the northern side just big enough for an adult kiwi to fit into. We both held our breath as I reached in and…pulled out a beautiful pale blue oval egg. Excellent! I carefully prepared it for transportation.

We had an hour and a half to get to the chopper pick up point and we (carefully) retraced our route back down the valley and (for the second time) up the true left side.

A well deserved rest at the hut

A big day for my mum but totally inspiring to find a kiwi egg, witness the majesty of the landscape and push yourself hard physically.

Mum quote of the day…“so, um, do venisons moo?”

This entry was posted on Friday, November 27th, 2009 at 7:53 am by Rowi Ranger and is filed under News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.