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New Zealand is famous for little creatures embarking on unexpected journeys and covering long distances – and now we can add a kiwi to the list.
A brown male kiwi, which apparently has a reputation for wandering, has successfully traversed 14 kilometres (and counting) through a protected habitat corridor from Mt Tamahunga to Kaipara Flats, where it was last spotted recently.
The journey of the kiwi highlights the conservation efforts of The Forest Bridge Trust, which has been working to create a safe and connected environment for kiwi between the east and west coasts of Rodney.
Since receiving Jobs for Nature funding through Save the Kiwi in 2020, the trust has collaborated with over 1000 landowners and local communities to establish extensive traplines, tipping the balance in favour of kiwi across 54,000 hectares.
Predator control across this area targets mustelids such as ferrets, stoats and weasels.
Trust operations manager Matu Booth says it’s not uncommon for kiwi to travel that far and this kiwi, in particular, has got a reputation.
Originally the bird was one of 10 brown kiwi translocated to Mt Tamahunga by the Tamahunga Trappers in March 2023.
“It had a transmitter on its leg and moved up north towards Pakiri quite quickly from where it was released. It was retrieved and brought back by the trappers to try to keep those original birds together,” Booth says.
“The trappers continued to track the kiwi, but it went off their radar in November, 2023. They had no real explanation for that but thought it might have dropped the transmitter. So it became an
off-the-radar bird.
“And then we picked it up on one of our trail surveillance cameras in August last year. It had crossed State Highway One in the Dome Valley.”
Booth says the trust has a whole network of trail cameras across the landscape to assist them with deployment of their traps.
“The kiwi disappeared again and then in January it showed up on our cameras again. This time we got hold of the Tamahunga Trappers and Kaipara Kiwi, the group that’s monitoring kiwi on the west coast.
“The trappers were able to identify it was a bird from Tamahunga because its transmitter was still working.”
Trust chief executive officer Ana Christmas says kiwi are very adept at surviving a variety of different landscapes if there is adequate predator control.
“This little guy has done exactly what we predicted and followed that kiwi connectivity pathway,” she says.
“The Kaipara Kiwi team had the appropriate permits to be able to put a new transmitter on that bird so we can continue to track its progress as it makes its way across the landscape and hopefully finds a mate and settles down.”
Booth says the kiwi has been heading west as the crow flies but who knows how far.
“He’s going to more than likely encounter kiwi that are also sifting through the landscape. He could be the first ambassador bird from the east coast.”
With Jobs for Nature funding soon coming to an end, Christmas says maintaining these hard-won conservation gains is at risk and that continued support is essential to ensuring kiwi thrive beyond these protected areas.
“We need the whole nation to get behind this ambitious mission to create a connected, protected landscape of healthy forests, waterways and thriving native wildlife alongside our nation’s biggest city.
“Together we can ensure kiwi and other native species continue to thrive for generations to come.”
To learn more about the brown kiwi in Rodney go to: https://surl.li/bqupoj
The kiwi comeback
By the early 1970s, kiwi had virtually disappeared from Rodney.
Decades later, determined conservation efforts led to successful reintroductions at Tāwharanui (2006), Mataia (2013), and Maunga Tamahunga (2023).
The translocation of kiwi to Mataia was particularly groundbreaking, marking the first time birds were released into a working farm environment.
The farms’ owners, who later founded The Forest Bridge Trust, envisioned a connected landscape where kiwi populations could expand and intermingle.
