Moondust the kiwi is one of 30 transmitter wearing wild Northland brown kiwi monitored by Kiwi Coast. After making crucial contributions to the Operation Nest Chick (ONC) program over the past five years, it’s now time for him to move on, and go his own way.
Kiwi Coast Kiwi Monitor, Todd Hamilton explains:
“Moondust has been one of our ONC dads for the past five years. These kiwi Dads are part of a long running program begun by the Department of Conservation (DOC) to provide kiwi for kiwi translocations. Moondust is part of a healthy kiwi population at Purua, west of Whangarei, where local farmers have had many years of good dog control and DOC has done more than two decades of stoat control.”
A small sample of kiwi Dads there have been fitted with radio transmitters so their nesting behaviour can be monitored remotely. When the transmitter data indicates that nesting is complete, the chicks are transferred to the Matakohe Limestone Island kiwi creche in the Whangarei Harbour managed by the Friends of Matakohe Limestone Island (FOMLI).
Todd works closely with Ngāti Hine, local farmers and FOMLI to coordinate the monitoring and transfer of each kiwi under a permit from DOC.
“These chicks are a treasured gift from Ngati Hine and the Purua farmers to other managed kiwi recovery areas in the Whangarei area.” says Todd.
Todd knows Moondust’s story well:
“Back in 2020 I noticed fresh diggings in a paddock up behind farmer Lovells’ woolshed in Irving Road. In the newly dug burrow I found a pair of kiwi, which were then ID chipped and a radio transmitter was put on the male. The students of Purua School named the kiwi pair “Moondust” and “Moonlight”.
Todd was then able to monitor Moondust’s location and nesting activity remotely via the radio transmitter data stream.
“Moondust soon got into nesting and hatching chicks. Some of these chicks have grown up on Matakohe Limestone Island and been released back to the mainland as part of Kiwi Coast’s community-led kiwi translocation program.”
Photo: one of Moondust’s chicks.
Kiwi Coast CEO, Ngaire Sullivan, explains the importance of this program for Northland kiwi population recovery:
“These public releases into community managed kiwi recovery areas such as Whangarei Heads, Parua Bay and Tutukaka have been powerful engagement events to encourage locals to control their dogs. This improved dog control has led to safer kiwi populations that continue to grow and expand. Some of these released kiwi are subsequently monitored to see how they interact with the local population at their release site or disperse through the collaborative pest controlled kiwi corridors across the landscape.”
Photo: Kiwi Coast Whangarei Coordinator, Jess Ogle, with one of Moondust’s grown chicks – Myra – being released by Backyard Kiwi at Parua Bay earlier this year.
After over five years it was time to remove Moondust’s transmitter and replace him in the ONC program with another Purua male kiwi. However, this was something that Moondust seemed reluctant to cooperate with.
Todd reports:
“Moondust has spent the last few months proving very hard to catch up with. He has been hiding in deep burrows, hollow logs and on steep kiekie covered faces of the Purua Reserve, evading me on multiple occasions. Until last week I finally caught up with him and removed his transmitter. Interestingly, his burrow was within 100m of where I first found him in 2020.”
Moondust was in great health and weighed 2350g (slightly more than he did when first weighed in 2020). He will remain in that area and continue breeding for up to potentially 40 or 50 more years with his chicks adding directly to the Purua kiwi population.
Kia kaha Moondust – thanks for all your contributions to the Operation Nest Chick program – may you live a long and productive life…
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Article: Todd Hamilton
Photo credits: Todd Hamilton and Carlyn Condon.
