Page 19 - 2008 NZ SUB ANTARCTIC ISLANDS - SMARTPHONE

Willowbank Kiwi Breeding Program

Another wildlife adventure awaited us in Christchurch: a visit to a zoo which includes a DOC-
supported kiwi breeding facility—this was Willowbank Wildlife Park. The facility also exhibited
both native creatures (keas (native parrot), pukekos (like our purple gallinules) rakariri (New
Zealand parakeet), white faced-herons, enormous eels and blue ducks. The zoo section also
included non-native animals like ostriches, monkeys, and other typical zoo denizens around the
world. However, the special part of the facility is the kiwi breeding building. We saw brown
kiwis the day we visited but they house other species as well. The building contains a room made
dark during the day so that visitors can see the kiwis foraging in the leaf litter and carrying on
their usual nocturnal activities. That was very neat to observe. The kiwi nostril is at the tip of the
beak and they poke and prod the ground with that appendage rather like an old gentleman
planting his walking stick ahead of him. With their hairy looking feathers and rounded body on
skinny legs, kiwi are cute birds. It is easy to see why New Zealand adopted this fellow as their
national symbol.

The breeding program works like this: nests of wild kiwi are monitored and the huge eggs
removed and brought to facilities like Willowbank for incubation, hatching and fledging. When
the birds are large enough, they are then moved to one of the DOC predator free islands for at
least one year. There they can grow and mature without dangers from mammalian predators.
After they are deemed to be adult, they are taken back to the areas where their original nest was
located. This practice has turned a 98% chick loss to a 98% success in reaching adulthood and
breeding potential. There are several of these facilities sanctioned by and working with DOC to
increase kiwi survival rates around the whole country. Those pest-free islands loom larger and
larger in importance to the overall restoration project.

On our visit to Willowbank, we learned that 2008 was their most successful breeding season ever.
Over 20 Okarito (a species of kiwi) chicks were released on Motuara (we never saw one there)
and 20 Haast (another species) were resettled on Centre Island (we did not visit that site). Many
other kiwis were successfully hatched, reared, and relocated including North Island Browns and
Great Spotted. In addition a number of wild chicks were brought to the center for care and later
release. We were surprised to find that this center is also involved in a Tuatara breeding program.
Two of their resident females laid eggs this season, one producing 13 eggs and the other 9 eggs.
17 of those eggs are currently being incubated, the other 5 collapsed indicating they were
infertile.

A fascinating kiwi factoid: The size of the kiwi egg is the largest in proportionate to the body
size of any birds in the world. The beleaguered kiwi female must deliver an egg that makes up
one-quarter of her total body weight. This egg is truly enormous in relation to the bird’s size.
We could hardly help wondering why Mother Nature was so cruel to mother Kiwi birds.

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