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Two-and-a-half years on from the first translocation of North Island brown kiwi to Mount Tamahunga, signs point to a thriving population.
Since March 2023, three translocations have seen 40 kiwi rehomed on the mountain. Tamahunga Trappers chair David Wilson says the birds have been breeding well, although it is difficult to estimate current numbers as many are no longer monitored.
“Most of the birds have happily settled, but there have been the occasional wanderers,” Wilson says, noting one kiwi was found as far away as Pakiri and another at Kaipara Flats.
He believes Mount Tamahunga could eventually sustain around 100 breeding pairs.
“It’ll be decades before we truly know how successful the programme has been,” he added.
Predator control and dog avoidance training are vital to the project’s long-term success. The Tamahunga Trappers, all volunteers, service traplines about once a month, sometimes with assistance from the Forest Bridge Trust. Mustelids and cats remain their main targets, and are still being caught regularly.
Wilson said one of the group’s long-term goals is to begin trapping rats.
“Kiwi are relatively resistant to rats, but if we could reduce the rat population, then the reintroduction of forest birds such as bellbirds, whiteheads, robins and kākā would be a possibility.”
The group is keen to welcome new volunteers to assist with predator control. For more information, visit
www.tamahungatrappers.org.nz.
