My Account
Rangers and volunteers at Shakespear Open Sanctuary are hopeful that Little Spotted kiwi introduced there last year successfully bred over summer, but so far there have been no sightings of chicks.
Senior ranger Matt Maitland says that around eight pairs of birds showed signs of breeding, but of these only two males were actively monitored and only one egg was actually seen (HM December 1).
Video footage and transmitter data fits with incubation of an egg at both monitored sites. Both nests have since been vacated by the birds and no longer contain eggs.
Matt says from this, you can assume a hatch but until young kiwi without leg bands are seen (all those released were banded), there is no way to be certain.
A comprehensive survey of the birds is not ordinarily done until five years after the birds are introduced, as it’s important to leave them alone to get established.
Twenty Little Spotted kiwi from Kapiti and Tiritiri Matangi Islands were released into the sanctuary at the end of Whangaparaoa Peninsula at the end of last April and a further 20 will go in next month.
