Rowi Project Blog

The other day I ventured out with my volunteer for the day, Mark, to track into one of our breeding pairs of rowi. Our mission for the day was to ascertain whether or not BS pair had successfully hatched a chick.

This was all the more exciting for me as it was to be our first for the season of the chicks we will be monitoring in the forest rather than taking them and hatching them in captivity as part of BNZ Operation Nest Egg. Due to a 1080 operation in the kiwi zone, just prior to the chick-hatching season, this year we are leaving some chicks to grow naturally in the forest.

The view from Lake Mapourika.

We are able to do this due to the lack of stoats and other non-native kiwi killers in Okarito after the pest control operation. It’s really exciting for the rowi team to watch these chicks grow up naturally without having to be removed from their home for their own protection.

BS pair had been incubating this egg for over 75 days now, so we were hopeful of finding their brand new chick.

We tramped up to the top of the ridge after a beautiful boat ride across Lake Mapourika with amazing views of the Southern Alps, then headed along one of our tracks until we could pick up a signal for BS pair. Once we had a good signal we tracked in quietly, feeling quite excited about arriving at their burrow and wondering what we would find.

On arrival, I could see a long kiwi bill poking out of the burrow entrance sniffing….I realised he definitely knew we were there! The male then withdrew his bill and we could immediately hear him making some noises inside the burrow, followed by the characteristics squeeks of a rowi chick!

Me and the wild little chick.

By this time I was super excited, we quietly put our bags down and I gently put my hand into the burrow to find the chick and bring it out….he was so very tiny, weighing only about 300 grams! Mark held him gently while I attached his tiny new transmitter and we checked him all over before putting him back with his mum and dad in the burrow.

Mark holding the wild chick for me.

Mark and I were both feeling pretty lucky, as we walked back out to the boat, that we were able to find the first chick born in the wild for the season!! We are looking forward to the next months as more chicks hatch in Okarito forest.

This entry was posted on Thursday, October 27th, 2011 at 10:37 am by Anna – Rowi Field 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.

One Response to “First wild chick of the 2011 breeding season”

1. greta suffys says:

   17 December 2011 at 5:55 am

   I adopted a kiwi on 29/11/2011 for my granddaughter. She is asking how she will know when the chicken is born and what will be the name.
   She is interested in this program, specially now she has adopted one