As kiwi numbers increase on the Kiwi Coast, more and more people are reporting a random encounter with a wild kiwi.
With all the fantastic work being done by over 60 groups and projects involved in the Kiwi Coast, kiwi numbers are increasing, as proven by Kiwi Call Count Monitoring data . Unlike some of the other kiwi recovery initiatives in New Zealand, there are no predator proof fences or containment areas on the Kiwi Coast, the roaming kiwi are free to wander and explore new areas. They live amongst people in their backyards and farms, in commercial pine forests and native bush – wherever they please!
As a result more and more people are reporting seeing and encountering kiwi as they go about their daily/nightly business. Most of these wild encounters are amazing experience for the lucky people involved. Unfortunately, kiwi are also increasingly on local roadsides and crossing the road is a risky business.
Philip and Jeanette King from Papakarahi Landcare report “We were driving home from the Kiwi Call Count Listening Training evening organised by Backyard Kiwi when we saw a kiwi on the road at McGregors Bay.
We stopped and watched it pottering around on the road, completely oblivious to our car before eventually wandering off… This is the second kiwi we have seen in the last two weeks!”
Wade Doak from Riverlands Landcare sent in this report “Local Tony Miller found one stunned by car headlights on Ngunguru Road. He wondered what to do, and then saw our front gate with its kiwi sign. So he actually picked her up and popped her over our fence as they know we do pest control!”
Unfortunately not every encounter is so positive. Cam McInnes from Tutukaka Landcare and Brony Oakley Brown, a Kamo teacher, found a dead kiwi also on Ngunguru Road when travelling into town earlier this week.
Cam reported the kiwi to Rolf Fuchs, Biodiversity Ranger at the Whangarei Department of Conservation office. Rolf examined the kiwi and took her in for x-rays at Kamo Vets to glean further information. Rolf says “The kiwi was 2.6kg with a bill length of 130mm, suggesting she was a young female. The x-ray shows massive hip displacement and she had visible swelling on the body, consistent with being hit by a car. The kiwi was not microchipped meaning she was wild kiwi we have not encountered before.”
Rolf’s findings yields some good news from the bad for the local Riverlands and Tutukaka Landcare groups who carry out intensive pest control in the area. It means that the hard work of the Landcare Groups to trap and reduce predators in the area helped this kiwi survive this far. 95% of kiwi in born in untrapped areas are killed by stoats before their first birthday, but this one made it through.
She was a locally born, wild kiwi – not one that had been released into the area – who just happened to be in the wrong place, at the wrong time.
The more kiwi there are on the Kiwi Coast – the more people will randomly encounter them. Most of these encounters will be amazing experiences to be long treasured. Other encounters will remind us that the kiwi living in our communities face the same risks we all do on roads.
Ngaire Tyson, Kiwi Coast Coordinator says : “If you are driving on the Kiwi Coast at night, slow down when you see kiwi signs, and don’t try to run over any possums! That possum might just be a kiwi…”
If you want to share your kiwi encounters you can contact Ngaire at ngaire@kiwicoast.org.nz or use this form to make a report.
If you find a dead kiwi on the Kiwi Coast call your local Department of Conservation office – Whangarei: 09 4703304, Bay of Islands: 09 4070300, Kaitaia 09 408 6014.
