Meet Reihana – a young wild kiwi who seems pretty happy with the Kiwi Link kiwi corridor in eastern Whangarei! Reihana’s movements are being remotely tracked by researcher Carl Dowd, with support from Kiwi Coast, generous sponsors and Pataua North Landcare.
Mangahui Rd resident Lynn Shrewsbury reports:
“I was very lucky to meet our new “neighbour” earlier this week – a gorgeous young kiwi called Reihana! I was with accredited kiwi handler Carl from Pataua North Landcare and Rolf from Northland Regional Council.
Reihana hatched on the Tahi New Zealand block at Pataua North last year. This week we found him (or maybe her) in a big clump of pampas, in the forestry block off Mangahui Road. Rehana is 18 months old and weighs 1800g. Carl tells me she or he’s growing well.
This monitoring is part of a DOC permitted study that Pataua North Landcare are doing to investigate wild kiwi survival and dispersal, and it’s producing some awesome results.
I’ll be listening out for Rehana calling out, and hopefully finding a mate. Please help our growing kiwi population by keeping your dogs under control, and keep up all the amazing pest control!”
