Rowi Blog: Archive for September, 2010

Yesterday I headed out to rescue an egg from a breeding pair of our rowi adults called CY pair.

At this time of year we generally expect to get wet most days. Following two months of sunny winter days, spring usually brings many wet and wild days in the West Coast!

The clouds gather over Okarito.

So I headed into the rain-drenched forest, getting a good strong signal from the top of the Okarito Trig Track – indicating that the birds were incubating a 40-day-old egg. Perfect!

I continued on my way through the drizzle, up and down the slippery slopes and along the swampy flat areas until I arrived at the river which we cross to enter CY pair’s territory.

As I arrived here and got my tracking gear out, the rain became heavier. I quickly placed my gear in a plastic bag to try to keep the water out. The TR4 receiver we use to locate the birds is very susceptible to malfunctioning if it gets wet so we do our best to keep it well away from water.

I listened out for the birds and got them straight away, so happily continued on the track until the signal became perpendicular to the track and I took a compass bearing (so that I could find my way back to the track after I found the egg!) and began to push my way through the small trees in this area.

Looking down at the ground I saw a beautiful kiwi print in a swampy puddle – must be on the right track….

Rowi footprints in the mud.

It was quite slow-going, as the forest was very dense….and wet!! I was able to tell I was getting very close to the burrow of the birds, as the TR4 signal became very load and clear.

It was at this point that the signal suddenly stopped completely…..silence. Confused I turned the TR4 off and switched it back on expecting to hear a loud signal , but nothing!

Unfortunately the TR4 just couldn’t handle the wet conditions and had broken down on me….in these situations we have to take them back to the office to dry them out thoroughly before they can be used again.

I was most upset as I had been so close to their burrow…..often we can find the burrows easily when we get close as the entrance will be obvious. Rowi often excavate the burrows so we see lots of soil at the entrance that has been dug out, however in this area there were potential burrows everywhere! I searched in vain for a while to try to find their burrow but was unable to locate it.

Unhappily, I had to make my way home without an egg on this visit!

We recently had our regular trip to Motuara Island to check the health of our juveniles from last year’s successful breeding season. This trip was a really amazing one for me as my sister, Victoria came along to help as a volunteer for the week.

The trip started off fantastically…..we were lucky enough to see a pod of bottlenose dolphins feeding in the bay as we headed out by boat to Motuara. They also had two seals trying to keep up and feed with them!

Bottlenose dolphins chasing our boat in the Sounds.

My sister Tor and our other volunteer Breezy who has been helping us in Franz Josef with some kiwi and kea work for a month or so, were blown away with seeing these incredible animals so close to the boat. As we continued on our way they decided to follow in the wake of our boat and swam right behind, the two small seals struggling to keep up as the boat got some speed up.

After our incredible ride out we arrived on Motuara Island and unloaded our gear ready for the afternoon’s work.

Tor and I focussed on the south-western side of the island….our first stop found three young kiwi together in a large rocky hole. Tor was amazed as I continued to pull kiwis from the hole! I showed her how to change their harnesses, weigh them to ensure they are growing well and measured their bill lengths.

Victoria has the rare opportunity to get up-close to a rowi.

We continued to the next burrows, eventually getting to an area called Penguin Avenue just before dusk. I thought we would try to change one more harness as we seemed very close to the kiwi from the sound of the transmitter.

The signal lead us to one of the wooden burrows we have placed around the island for extra homes for newly introduced kiwis……and as we carefully lifted the lid we found seven kiwi inside! Wow….its always exciting to see so many nesting together as the unique rowi seem to like to do when they are young.

Young rowi cosying-up in one of our nesting boxes.

We sat down and started to change lots of transmitters and by this stage it was dark and time for kiwi to forage so as we finished checking a bird we would release it nearby.

Tor was astounded when several happily foraged close by and we sat and watched fascinated as they moved around, burying their bills into the undergrowth to look for insects to eat. We could hear their characteristic sniffling as they blew any dirt from the nostrils uniquely placed at the very tip of their bill.

A happy chick foraging near-by.

After such a productive first day we were able to finish a little early before our boat ride back to the mainland on our final day. Tor and I spent our time sitting at the watering hole admiring the robins, bellbirds and even a saddleback that came down to bathe. We also explored the beautiful beach looking for paua, kina and any more passing dolphins!

We have had a lot of rain on the coast as of late and the last few egg rescues I went on were rather wet. 

Biodiversity Ranger, Myles Riki, and I were heading out into the rain to rescue two eggs from Doc, Dowell and fluffy.  Yes, that’s right,  Doc is the lucky partner to two females who live together in one burrow! Both females lay an egg each, roughly ten days apart so we can usually get both at the same time. It was this threesome that produced Richter – the first hatch of the season at Willowbank.

Doc, Dowell and Fluffy have a beautiful home overlooking the three mile lagoon and during rain their territory is absolutely sodden. We had our doubts whether we could get to them as a lot of streams had broken out across our path, but luckily there happened to be a convenient log or two stretched across the waterways.

Myles and I took the long way round to get to the threesome and, as it turns out, the water was up to their doorstep, literally. Myles and I were in a thigh deep moat of water which surrounded their burrow whist reaching to rescue the two eggs – another day of rain and I would have been taking those little eggs and moving burrows if I was them. 

With the eggs safely packed in cosy chilly bins Myles and I had to navigate our way back through the torrents of water, we did come to one creek which is usually very deep anyway and we had to fashion a bridge of sorts to get ourselves and the eggs safely across – a bit of kiwi ingenuity saving the day. 

After a wash and a candle, both eggs are looking good and are on their way to our hatching facility at Willowbank in Christchurch.

Close up of Richter. Photo: Iain Graham.

Update on rowi newbie Richter

Over at Willowbank Wildlife Reserve, our new rowi chick, Richter, is doing well. Richter has been moved from the TLC to the brooder and is now weighing in at 290 gm. He is strong and is exploring the peat moss, but has not been introduced to food yet. Certainly tracking above normal.

After a further delivery last week, they are now caring for 21 kiwi eggs from the two most endangered kiwi – rowi and Haast tokoeka – both found on New Zealand’s West Coast.

Just in time for Conservation Week, we welcome the hatch of our first rowi chick for the season.  It has hatched undamaged in the midst of Christchurch’s earthqakes and to a collective sigh of relief from all of us involved.

Richter hatched on Sept 12 - a nice start to Conservation Week.

This is the first kiwi hatch of the 2010 season at Willowbank Wildlife Reserve,  and comes after a 7.1 earthquake hit the South Island last week.  The chick is aptly named Richter.

This is one breakage that is a welcome relief after the recent quakes!

Minister of Conservation Kate Wilkinson helps clean Rickter

(This update from Corry-Ann at Willowbank Wildlife Reserve in Christchurch where they incubate our precious rowi eggs).

Just like the rest of Christchurch I was woken up by the 7.1 earthquake on Saturday morning.  Concerened for the safety of the 17 rare kiwi eggs we are caring for (7 rowi and 10 Haast tokoeka), I raced into work after the quake at around 5am.

I also needed to start our power generator as the power was off – it didn’t return until Sunday afternoon.

The kiwi eggs are placed on ribbed, rubber matting in their incubators which gives them some stability.  This also absorbed much of the quake’s impact and helped restrict damage.

The eggs had rolled around their incubators but luckily none of them had cracked and, so far, they continue to develop – so fingers crossed they make it through to hatch.

We have also done renovations at Willowbank to ensure we are ready fo rour biggest BNZ Operation Nest Egg season yet!  We are gearing up for around 100 chicks in one season (last year it was 87).

Since 2005 we have supported DOC and BNZ Save the Kiwi to send 234 kiwi back to the wild!

The kiwi breeding season is officially underway for the year, with nine healthy eggs collected so far. These eggs are now over in Willowbank in a few warm incubators, and our first chick is due to hatch in the next week or so.

You may recall that Rein helped me find an egg very early on in the season. Well because there was no transmitter on the kiwi we were unable to determine how old the egg was. When I candled it for the first time I couldn’t see any development however the egg may have been very young, so we transported it back to Franz and incubated it for 15 days. Over this time, if the egg was viable we would expect to see the chick start to develop within the egg. We were pretty sad to see no development at the end of this time, meaning the first egg for the season was infertile (don’t worry, we won’t tell Rein).

Over this last week the team have been out and about trying to pick up a few more eggs, but luck seems to have gone in search of some drier weather. Four of the nests we’ve visited have been deserted before we could get to them, meaning we’ve been coming back empty-handed.

Kiwi work is not all “happy, happy, joy, joy”.  There are certainly times when we feel a bit down and nothing goes according to plan, however this just makes us all the more determined to get out and have a successful day. It’s pretty cool seeing how stoked the team is when someone comes back after a hard day with a healthy egg or chick that will now, thanks to their hard work, have a very good chance of survival.

The whitebait season has just started here on the coast, and I’m off for the weekend to try my luck. Rein’s pretty keen on trying some of those little fish that everyone’s been talking about. She should be so lucky!!!!

Rein enjoying the beach.