Meet Marohi whose name means strength, bravery and determination. Marohi was named by kids of Ngunguru School.
Marohi was caught on 27/10/16 on Limestone Island. He had no transponder chip so is presumed to be island bred. His parents would have come from the Whangarei Kiwi Sanctuary in the Purua/Riponui area where the Department of Conservation carry out predator control on three reserves and surrounding farmland.
Marohi was less than a year old when released based on his weight and bill length.
Sex: Male
Species: Northland Brown Kiwi
Released on 18/11/2016
Released at: Tawapou, Tutukaka
Weight at release: approx. 1kg.
After exploring the Tutukaka Coast after his release, Marohi eventually settled into the Tutuakak Forest Block and paired up with his mate-for-life. As an extremely successful nester, Marohi has well and truly earnt his nick-name of “Super Dad”. Over the last nine years since his release, Marohi has successfully hatched nine kiwi chicks to our knowledge.
Marohi’s 2021 nesting burrow. Photo: Mike Camm
His nesting burrows do seem a bit quirky – he appears to prefer a DIY pampas-pine needle haystack arrangement over your traditional earth burrow. But hey – if it works for him it works for us!
Marohi is good at giving the tracking team a bit of a run around though! Every six months all of the monitored kiwi need to be caught to have a health check and get fresh batteries put in their transmitters. Here’s what happened one time: Like Finding a Kiwi in a Haystack
When will Marohi nest again? Will we ever meet his mystery mate? Will we catch a glimpse of chicks again, or have they wandered far and wide?
Marohi Updates
You can become a kiwi sponsor and follow the life and adventures of Marohi by signing up to the Kiwi Coast ‘Follow a Kiwi’ Program. As a Follow the Kiwi Sponsor you will receive news, updates, photos and event invites FIRST!