Friends of Flora celebrate first kiwi chick

December 29th, 2012
[Press release]

Friends of Flora are celebrating the hatching of the first kiwi chick to be born in Kahurangi National Park's Flora Stream area for decades.

The chick's parents were among 12 great spotted kiwi moved to the community conservation group's project area in May 2010 to return kiwi to this part of the national park.

Friends of Flora (FOF) Chairman Peter Adams said the hatching of the first kiwi chick was a major milestone for the group in its incredible journey to restore the wildlife values of the Flora Stream catchment.

"Everyone in the group is absolutely elated," he said. "FOF's dedicated volunteers have worked so hard for so many years to make the area safe for wildlife and kiwi breeding is a sign of the ecological health of the area.

"The kiwi moved into the project area have established territories and visitors to the park now regularly hear the spine-tingling call of the kiwi when they camp or stay in Mount Arthur Hut."

FOF have worked with Department of Conservation staff for the last 12 years to control stoats over more than 5000 hectares of Kahurangi National Park, centred on the Flora catchment. Stoat predation of kiwi chicks is a primary cause of declines in kiwi numbers.

The newly-arrived chick's 'dad' is called Anatori (pictured right) and the chick's 'mum' is thought to almost certainly be Anaweka. "Anaweka is independent-minded and periodically goes walkabout," said Peter.

"In spring 2011 she travelled 6 kilometres away from Anatori through extremely rugged terrain. Then, to our concern, her radio-transmitter, which the kiwi are fitted with, fell off. This meant we couldn't follow where she went anymore.

"At the beginning of October this year, the nightly activity of Anatori dropped from an average of 9.9 hours a night to 6.6 hours a night, suggesting he was incubating an egg. But if so, who produced the egg?

"We left an acoustic recorder in Anatori's home patch and the very first night it picked up the call of a female kiwi loud and clear! We cannot be certain the female is Anaweka, but we don't know of any others near by, so it appears most likely that she returned from her travels to breed.

"Finally on 16 December after nearly 3 months of incubation, Anatori stayed at home all night indicating that the chick had hatched, and on Christmas Day a remotely operated video camera filmed the chick outside the burrow. A great Christmas treat for all involved!"

Friends of Flora are currently working to raise funds to move more kiwi into their project area next autumn and any donations to support this would be very much welcomed. More information on FOF and on how to give a donation can be found on their website: www.fof.org.nz

FOF aims to maintain and restore biodiversity values in the Flora Stream catchment area and has some 70 volunteers. It aims to re-establish key 'target' species. If successful in this, numerous other species will also benefit. Target species include whio, roroa (great spotted kiwi) and Powelliphanta snails.

The main threats to kiwi are stoats, with chicks less than 1kg vulnerable to stoat predation and dog attacks. Dogs find the smell of kiwi irresistible and easily kill the birds which have very weak breast muscles. Dogs are not allowed in national parks.

Ecosystem restoration and kiwi recovery is expensive. FOF has had fantastic support but continues to need funding support especially for a second kiwi translocation planned for the autumn.

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