Kiwi!!!

A couple weeks ago, on one of my last days in Kaingaroa, I had an exceptional day. During the day, I went out with Andy and Bob tracking kiwi, which was fantastic. As I mentioned earlier, kiwi populations are down 99%, with introduced predators being a major problem for these flightless birds. However, research has shown that after they reach 2 pounds (adults are 5 pounds), they are generally tough enough to defend themselves against stoats, weasels, opposums, and cats. Therefore, in order to help them, conservation officers remove eggs from wild nests and rear them in captivity, releasing them after they reach two pounds.

On this day we went looking for a five month old female, Meme, who was released a month prior and weighs about 2.5 pounds. Since she is radio tagged, Bob and Andy quickly found her and then checked her health. Before letting her go, I got to hold her. When Andy handed Meme to me, she struggled for a few seconds and then gave up. I was holding her like a baby, and after about 10 seconds her head and long bill started to slowly sink backwards and then she fell asleep with her little tiny wing-stumps hanging out. She was sleepy because they are nocturnal animals and she was probably calm because she has been handled before. When kiwi are stressed they lose copious amounts of feathers, but she didn't seem to drop any. Her feathers felt surprisingly like fur and she was as cute as a button. It was quite a rare privilege.

Shhhh! Sleeping Kiwi.

Posted by Hello