Below you will find the update for each monitored kiwi, and the monitored kiwi map.

We have successfully released two more kiwi into the Heads in the past month. “Te Rata” was caught on Limestone Island by ranger Ben Barr who heard him calling nearby while he was cooking tea. Ben snuck out and nabbed him. He was released by a good crowd of locals at Zac Smith’s place on the south side of Kauri Mt. On his way there he paid a visit to the Whangarei Heads School and Parua Bay School to be welcomed to his new home. Te Rata was one of last season’s chicks and was a healthy 1725g in weight.

One of the kiwi chicks from the Department of Conservation 1080 trials in the study block at Rarewarewa (just north of Purua) reached transfer weight last month so was also ready to come to the Heads. He/She has been named “Robin” by Moria Pagan and Wayne Burchall who are one of WHLF Backyard kiwi’s Foundation sponsors. Robin visited the Papakarahi Landcare nursery team at the Nook and Parua Bay School before being released at Grant and Raewyn Fabers on the north side of Kauri Mt.

The “smart” radio transmitters on our kiwi are telling us that male activity is dropping at the moment as they start to nest. These Dad’s activity drops from over 12 hours a night down to only around 3 hours as they sit on the eggs.

Some happenings with the transmittered kiwi:

– Lambert: Our “dad of the year” for the past 2 seasons – hatching 7 chicks- has started to nest again in the pampas on Taurikura ridge.

– JR: Is at the North end of Urquharts Bay has started nesting again after a practice start back in April, hopefully he will see this nest through.

– Waka: Is still hanging around the beach houses at Mckenzie Bay – letting the locals know that he is about with some loud calling.

– Dallas: Has spent time around the eastern side of the Whangarei Heads School and even right down to be within 5m of the foot path on Whangarei Heads Road below the school.

– Ari and Xmas: No radio signal from either of these guys this month so hope they are tucked down in rock guts at the back of McLeods.

– Jackie and her mate Jackie’s Boy: Spending plenty of time together at the Nook – hopefully there will be some eggs produced soon.

– King: Is at Kauri Mt has settled into his nesting area from last season

We had a very successful kiwi release on Easter Friday with 120 locals and visitors meeting on the Dudin’s property in McLeod Bay. We released two new kiwi to the Heads – a chick named “Harding” in honour of Peter and Betty Harding for all the hard work they do for our community, and “Ari” named by the Jaggers after the famous Finnish rally driver. Ari was fitted with a radio transmitter and has settled into an area at the back of McLeod Bay.

We will be releasing more kiwi at the Heads in the next month or so – subscribe to our electronic updates if you would like notification of release dates.

The “smart” radio transmitters on our other kiwi are telling us that the kiwi are very active at the moment. Most are “getting up” at around 5pm in the evening and are active for 12 hours plus – feeding up for the upcoming nesting season.

We are carrying out our annual kiwi call count at the moment as a measure of the kiwi population at the Whangarei Heads. We have trained volunteers at 21 listening stations throughout the Heads listening for 2 hours on 4 different nights. Initial numbers of calls are encouraging and their timing also reflects our radio transmitter data with call counts being high in the early evening as kiwi call to find their mate, and then call rates dropping off after that.

Some happenings with the transmittered kiwi:

– Jackie’s Boy – at the Nook – has been playing hard to get sleeping in hollow Puriri trees ( a great place to keep safe from dogs during the day) but he spent one day sleeping in some bracken so I caught up with him for his 6 monthly check and he was a healthy 2050g.

– Violet – This is the adult female who used to hang around the Manaia Club before the pine harvesting there and now spends most her time in the scrub on Mt Aubrey at Bay View Road. She has proved to be very jumpy since the logging operation and has become hard to catch so when I finally caught up with her this month I removed her transmitter (see photo above). She was in good condition and weighed 2700g with a bill length of 137mm. With good dog control she should have another 50 years of life there.

– JR – Who is at the North end of Urquharts Bay had a practice start to nesting back in April but gave up this month. Hopefully he will try again soon.

– Waka – Is still hanging around the beach houses at Mckenzie Bay – letting the locals know that he is about with some loud calling apparently.

Summary of kiwi monitoring Mid April:

–Funded by Bank of New Zealand Save the Kiwi Trust–

Summary of kiwi monitoring Mid March:

Funded by Bank of New Zealand Save the Kiwi Trust

Summary of kiwi monitoring for January:

Funded by Bank of New Zealand Save the Kiwi Trust

• All monitored birds checked OK for the month – one unmonitored kiwi death reported.

• Have located and rechecked most monitored kiwi since the flooding and their data streams indicate that they are doing well. No doubt there will have been some chick losses with the downpour and possibly deaths of unmonitored adult kiwi in the slip areas. However the rain may also kick start another round of nesting.

• An adult female was run over on the road just north of McLeods – unfortunately this is the area that our backyard kiwi crossing sign used to warn motorists to be careful of kiwi. That sign was recently stolen – broken off above the concrete at ground level after a serious effort with a vehicle and chain by thieves. The silver lining to this kiwi death is that once again it was a “wild bred” bird with no ID chip – birds like this can only reach adulthood if our trapping network is working.

• Lionel Sands (one of our foundation sponsors) has named Whitu’s most recent chick “Wally” in honour of Captain Wally Wordley of the 28th Maori Battalion who spent time at the Heads.

• Lambert is still on his second nest at Taurikura ridge and the egg(s) are due to hatch in the next week.

• Waka –biometrics done – he is growing well 1790g (up from 1325g in September) and has settled in bush above Taurikura Bay .

• JR- above Mckenzie bay – annual tx change – 1900g

• Dan- at Kauri Mt –annual tx change -1840g.

• Violet due transmitter change but still proving elusive at Mt Aurbrey –will not replace her transmitter when we finally catch up with her as she has become to difficult to monitor.

• Sleepy due biometrics but still hanging out in various hollow Puriri.

• Xmas is due transmitter change but is also proving hard to locate in Mcleod bay and his data stream is indicating nesting behaviour.

November Update on Monitored Kiwi

All monitored kiwi in the Whangarei Heads are alive…click here to see updated map of kiwi locations.

Jackie’s Boy is still at the Nook. He gave up nesting after 34 days. We hope his mate (Jackie) is not a problem breeder – her previous nests with previous mate also failed last season.

King is nesting at Kauri Mountain. His final hatch is due on 17th December, so stay tuned.

Whitu at Reotahi is still exhibiting very low activity 56 days after hatch. Poor guy has gone straight from one nest to another.

Lambert at Taurikura Ridge has also started his second nest for the season. He already hatched two chicks, he chicks have been named “ Sandy ” by Audrey of Ocean Flowers and “Alan” in honour of Alan Pike.

Waka – young male released at Taurikura Ridge back in September is also showing nesting behaviour!!! He is only 15 months old – we thought Lambert was quick off the mark when he started at 2 years old.

Daniel found in gut at Kauri Mt.after being missing last month.

Recently released “Jen” has moved from Mt Manaia to Kauri Mt and settled in there

Also recently released “Steph” moved towards to Kauri Mt but carried right on past – she was only fitted with a old transmitter on a temporary band for checking after release and the tx has now dropped off in a paddock by the Taiharuru estuary. (both these birds were adults and the older birds tend to go walk about after release far more than our usual sub adult aged birds).

Violet due tx change but deep in pampas and elusive

Sleepy due BMs but always in hollow Puriri.

“Released” kiwi prints are going fast….Please contact us if you would like to order one…and support a great cause.

What some of the WHLF monitored kiwi have been up to in October:

Kiwi Release – Eighty locals were in attendance for the release of “Steph,” “Jen,” and “Marcus” at Mark and Claire Pearson’s place at Northern Manaia . It was great to see the locals turn up, including some new faces, to see kiwi released in their backyard. And thanks to Mark and Claire for their hosting of the event.

Marcus – was named by Ben and Jo Barr (Limestone Is Rangers) in honour of Marcus Lush who was filming the TV program “North” at Limestone when they recaptured the kiwi for the release. We released him without a transmitter.

Steph – is a large female who has quickly moved from the release site at Manaia towards Kauri Mt

Jen – is actually a boy and he has also moved towards Kauri Mt and is current hanging out at the end of Kerr road.

Lambert -(Our “Dad of the Year” last year) – Todd visited the pampas bush that has been home to him and his eggs for over 100 days at Taurikura Ridge, and confirmed that he has hatched 2 chicks from his first nest of this season – they have now been DNA sampled and ID chipped. Lambert’s chick timer transmitter data had shown his hatching inactivity, then a slow rise in activity until 17 days after hatching signaling that he was about to leave the chicks. Lambert is now sporting a new CT tx (Chick Timer transmitter). The chicks have been named “ Sandy ” by Audrey of Ocean Flowers and “Alan” in honour of Alan Pike.

Whitu at Reotahi – Also confirmed 2 chicks hatched, again nesting in a pampas bush. These two have been named “Marsden” and “Atarangi” by Dianna Manning and Graeme Cleaver.

King – King’s transmitter signal finally turned up again after 4 months off radar at Kauri Mountain , probably on one of the coastal cliffs there. He is now nesting and his hatch is due around 17 December.

Jackie’s Boy at Nook – This is the new wild male we found last month – he is now nesting in a hollow Puriri only a few meters from the back door of a house at the Nook. His nest is due to hatch around 11 December.

All others accounted for except Daniel who is now hiding somewhere at Kauri Mountain .

What some of the WHLF monitored kiwi have been up to in September:

New kiwi named Jackie’s Boy – You may remember that an adult male kiwi called “Spratt” was killed by a dog at the Nook a couple of months ago. Todd was checking Spratt’s female mate “Jackie” earlier this month and found her cuddled up in a pampas bush with a new mate who the landowners has named “Jackie’s Boy”. It is always exciting to find new wild kiwi at the Heads because it is a good indication that our stoat trapping is protecting the kiwi chicks.

Whitu – wins the prize for hatching the first chick for the monitored kiwi at the Heads this year. His transmitter indicates that his chick hatched on 23 September. His nest is on the face of Mt Aubrey above the Reotahi carpark and we will leave him in alone for a week or so – his activity is still only around 2 hours per night according to the transmitter so he may well be on a second egg.

Lambert – last year’s “dad of the year” has hatched his first chick of the season on 24 September (piped by 1 day by Whitu) at Taurikura Ridge.

Xmas – was briefly nesting for 12 days in the horse paddock at McLeods but gave up on the nest. To hatch a kiwi egg needs to be incubated by the dad for around 75 days but DoC studies show that only 50% of kiwi eggs naturally make it through to hatch. The good news for Xmas is that there is plenty of time for him to have another go at nesting this spring and if we get summer rain many of the Kiwi can have two nests in a season.

Darwin – although Darwin is a mature male he hasn’t nested since being released in 2006 and seems to prefer bachelor life in the pampas at the end of Lamb road.

Waka – is a juvenile kiwi from our BNZONC programme. He was hatched in Purua 12 months ago and we transferred him to Limestone Is. Jo and Ben Barr (the Limestone Is rangers) found him in one of their Petrel nests and he had grown to 1300g – big enough to come back to the mainland. He was released on 18 September at Taurikura Ridge (see release story). Waka has settled into the pine forest on the eastern side of Taurikura Ridge. Welcome to the Heads Waka.

Violet has moved up the eastern side of Mt Aubrey by Bay View road.

King is still being elusive somewhere on the Kauri Mountain coastline and hopefully he and his transmitter signal will turn up again soon .