Fourth kiwi chick discovered in Nelson Lakes National Park
For more information:
DOC Nelson Lakes Area Office: Paul Gasson, phone +64 3 521 1806.
DOC communications adviser: Trish Grant, phone: +64 3 546 3146.
DOC national kiwi information: Avi Holzapfel phone +64 7 858 0019.
Bank of New Zealand Save the Kiwi Trust: Michelle Impey, phone: +64 9 375 1084 or + 64 29 478 4610.
Date: 30 June 2008
Department of Conservation field workers were delighted to find a new great spotted kiwi chick in Nelson Lakes National Park during a recent check of the population, as part of Bank of New Zealand Save the Kiwi.
It is the fourth chick known to have hatched in the national park's Rotoiti Nature Recovery Project area since great spotted kiwi were first reintroduced there four years ago.
The 700g chick, named Marama, was found deep in a burrow with Takaka, its father who was moved into the 5000ha Rotoiti mainland island project in 2004. The new chick is considered to be about three months old.
"For several months we have believed that Takaka had successfully incubated an egg this breeding season, as his radio transmitter signal was consistently originating from the same spot through late summer," said Rotoiti Nature Recovery Project Team Leader Paul Gasson.
"We tried to locate the chick with its father over a month ago, but the burrow they were using at that time was a solid log that we could not dig into without destroying it. It is fantastic to have finally seen the chick. It is now carrying a small radio transmitter so we can monitor its movements."
Great spotted kiwi
The chick's mother, Onekaka, was moved to the Rotoiti mainland island in 2006. A total of 16 adult kiwi were released into the project area during 2004 and 2006.
"Only a handful of great spotted kiwi chicks have been monitored in the wild, so we are hoping to learn all sorts of interesting things about great spotted kiwi biology."
Two other young kiwi that hatched in the Rotoiti project mainland island are currently being monitored. Miharo hatched in 2005, and Ngahere hatched in 2007. Another kiwi named Rito is currently "missing in action" due to a transmitter failure, but staff are hopeful that Rito will be relocated.
Marama will need to grow to 1 kilogram in weight before being considered safe from predation by stoats, the main predator of kiwi chicks.
"We maintain an extensive network of stoat traps covering 5000ha of kiwi habitat, and the three oldest kiwi chicks have all passed the 1kg threshold" Mr Gasson said.
The stoat trapping also protects a population of kaka, an endemic forest parrot.
"The Rotoiti great spotted kiwi project is now moving into an exciting new phase. From 2004 to 2007 we focussed on the effect on adult great spotted kiwi of relocating them. We have shown that this can be successfully carried out, and now we are moving on to looking at issues of great spotted kiwi breeding and chick recruitment into the adult population."
Photo of chick: Call Trish Grant on 03546 3146 or email on tgrant@doc.govt.nz if you would like a photo of the chick emailed to you for your use.