Connors' New Zealand Adventure: Operation Nest Egg - Saving kiwis

One of the fascinating challenges that New Zealand and DOC are faced with is exploding populations of non-native mammals. The only mammal that is native to New Zealand is the bat. All other animals were introduced and you know what happens when you mess with mother nature….things go bonkers and out of balance.

Stoats are animals similar to ferrets but smaller. They were introduced to the South Island in 1884 to control rabbits. The introduction of stoats is commonly regarded as one of the worst mistakes ever made in New Zealand due to their impacts on native animals, especially birds.

Stoats kill many types of birds, including young kiwis. If a kiwi can make it to about 9 months old, or 1.5 kg, it can survive in the wild. Under that size, stoats will kill it. The survival rate of kiwi chicks in the wild is only 2% because of those mean ol’ stoats. To help the kiwis survive, DOC and other groups have kiwi preservation programs. We got to visit one of the kiwi crèches. The Bank of New Zealand is a partner with DOC for this site. The crèche is 300 hectacres enclosed by a serious fence. It’s the type of fence with a double door entry and which extends below ground so animals can’t burrow under it. DOC rangers collect kiwi eggs from the wild, transplant them into the protected crèche and then monitor the chicks growth until they are heavy enough to go back into the wild and hold their own against those mean ol’ stoats.

Kiwis are nocturnal and the birds in the crèche have transmitters on them. So while they were sleeping in burrows, we found them with a device which picked up beeping noises from their transmitters. The DOC ranger reached deep in the burrow, woke them up and then we carefully got to hold them, weigh them, snap photos and put them back to bed. It was so cool! They are sooooooooo cute! Save the kiwis!


The sign outside the kiwi creche (best translation - sanctuary ?)

Proper attire for kiwi catching - gumboots!

The serious fence around the creche

The creche - kiwi habitat

Each bird had an individually numbered transmitter on their leg. We were using this tracking device to find two particular birds.

The beeping from the transmitter led us to this nest.

The DOC ranger had to reach in far to find the bird. Luckily there's no snakes or scary creepy crawlies in New Zealand or I'd be a bit more leery about sticky my arm in this hole.