Conservation Week 2010 came to a good conclusion for the kiwi population of Whangarei Heads on Saturday.

50 people met at Ocean Flowers flower farm in Taurikura to wish the latest addition to the kiwi well.

As Martin Hunt gently pointed the 1300g  kiwi named Waka into his new burrow, Whangarei Heads Landcare Forum project manager Todd Hamilton reminded the enthralled group that Waka would be living and breeding in the area for more than 50 years.

“That’s longer than I’ll be around,” he noted. “Kia kaha, Waka”.

Thanks to WHLF’s Backyard Kiwi project, effective stoat control is letting more chicks survive, and the growing awareness in the community of the importance of good dog control means less adult kiwi are killed.

Consequently the kiwi population at the Heads has grown from an estimate of just 80 in 2001 to over 300 today.

Waka joins the Backyard Kiwi ‘Dad of the Year’ Lambert on Taurikura Ridge. Both kiwi are fitted with transmitters that send out a unique radio signal.

Thanks to exciting new technology, we can now record daily kiwi behavior – what time they get up, how long they feed for each night, when they start nesting – and, unfortunately, when they die.

Martin Hunt, landowner and convenor of Taurikura Ridge biodiversity project says “This data is a phenomenal resource in progressing the kiwi population at Whangarei Heads. The more we know about our kiwi – the more we can do to look after them.”

The signal record for Saturday shows that Lambert is at it again. After hatching 3 chicks in 2009, he has been sitting on a nest for 63 days. In another 15 days we can expect more chicks to join Waka and Lambert.