Teina
Teina hatched in Ray’s nest, on Lovell’s farm back in 2015. We transferred him to Limestone Island to grow up before bringing him to the Heads. He was only 265g when we moved him and it wasn’t until over 3 years later we caught up with him again. He had grown to be a healthy young adult male of 1950g and had a bill of 104.5mm (adult males have bills less than 120mm). Teina was named by BYK proud Supporter Lionel Sands in memory of Teina Terei.
In his usual valley of pampas and pines at the north end of Martins’ pine block. 9 hours activity- no sign of nesting.
In his usual valley of pampas and pines at the north end of Martins’ pine block. 9.5 hours activity- no sign of nesting.
He has continued to cruise up and down his valley of pampas and pines at the north end of Martins’ pine block with no sign of nesting. 10.5 hours activity.
He has continued to cruise up and down his valley of pampas and pines at the north end of Martins’ pine block. 11.5 hours nightly activity.
He has done his usual short loop and dropped back down to the bottom of his valley of pampas and pines at the north end of Martins’ pine block. 11 hours activity.
He has headed back up to the top of his valley of pines at the north end of Martins’ pine block. 11 hours activity.
He has stayed down the bottom of his valley at the north end of Martins’ pine block. Kerry and I did his band change – he is still super FAT! 3525g. This guy really needs to get some nesting time for his own good!
He has dropped down the valley at the north end of Martins’ pine block. 9 hours activity.
In his usual area of pampas and pines at the north end of Martins’ pine block. 8 hours of activity. Not far from Beach Girl
In his usual area of pampas and pines at the north end of Martins’ pine block. 9 hours activity.
In his usual area of pampas and pines at the north end of Martins’ pine block. 9 hours activity.
In his usual area of pampas and pines at the north end of Martins’ pine block. Down slightly at 9 hours activity but still not nesting.
Even though we found him with a female last month he is yet to show any sign of nesting (10 hours activity). He is in his usual area of pampas and pines.
Caught up with this extremely overweight guy for his transmitter change. 11.5 hrs activity. 3550g and body thick with fat. He may be about to lose some weight though as we caught him with a new adult female- 2450g, 135.5mm and MP condition She is now ID chipped and has been named Atawhai by Carol. Great to find a new wild grown kiwi in the area! And also great to see Teina is finally showing some interest in females after years of seemingly ignoring them. Hopefully they can breed and he can shed his fat nesting. Wally was previously almost as fat but after 3 nests back to back had got down to 1650g!
Still in his usual haunt of pampas and pines at the north end of Martins’ pine block Owhiwa road.12 hrs activity
Still is in his usual haunt of pampas and pines at the north end of Martins’ pine block Owhiwa road.11 hrs activity – if he doesn’t start breeding soon he is going to have a serious weight problem.
Still is in his usual haunt of pampas and pines at the north end of Martins’ pine block Owhiwa road.11.5 hrs activity
This fat boy now has several females nearby so may find a mate. He is in his usual haunt of pampas and pines at the north end of Martins’ pine block Owhiwa road.
He is in the pampas and young pines at the north end of Martins’ block. Kerry and I finally caught up with this guy and found that he is super fat – 3550g !! The heaviest male that I have ever handled. He has a lazy 7 hours nightly activity. All that food and no breeding is not doing him well. Hopefully he can find a girl to slim him down the way Wally has – Wally previously held the record at 3350g before he found a mate and is now down to around 1600g!
He is in the pampas and young pines at the north end of Martins’ block. He is still showing some low-ish activity – 7 hours average but is moving around a bit so still isn’t looking to nest.
He is in the young pines at the north end of Martins’ block Owhiwa Road. He continues to have a moderately low activity of 6.5 hours but is still cruising around so doesn’t seem to be starting to nest.
He is in the young pines at the north end of Martins’ block. A couple of lower activity nights and down to 8 hours average so hoping that he may nest, but he is probably just sitting on his fat rear end.
He is in the young pines at the north end of Martins’ block. Still no sign of nesting; 9 hours nightly average. Beach Girl is roughly 500m away.
He has remained in the young pines at the north end of Martins’ block. Still no sign of nesting; 9 hours nightly average. Beach Girl is roughly 300m away.
Has moved back into the young pines at the north end of Martins’ block. Still no sign of him nesting; 9 hours nightly average. Beach Girl is roughly 500m away.
Still in the native bush at the north end of Martins’ block. Still high activity; 12 hours nightly average.
Still in the native bush at the north end of Martins’ block. Still high activity; 11.5 hours nightly average.
He moved out of the dense pampas into the nearby native for a few days so I took the opportunity to catch up with him. He was in a deep burrow – did tx change; a fat 3025g- extremely heavy for a male, he really needs a nesting stint to trim him down. 12 hours nightly average.
He is in dense pampas at the northern end of the Martins’ block Owhiwa Road. His transmitter change is due but he is proving elusive in his pampas warrens. 11.5 hours nightly average.
Hasn’t made any nesting attempts this season (rocks or otherwise). 11 hours nightly average. Usual area at North end of the Martins’ block.
Still doesn’t seem to be interested in breeding. 9 hours nightly average. Usual area at N end of the Martins’ block.
Still doesn’t seem to be interested in breeding. 9 hours nightly activity
Still doesn’t seem to be interested in breeding. 10.5 hours nightly average. Usual area at the northern end of the Martins’ block.
Still doesn’t seem to be interested in breeding. 10 hours nightly average. Usual area at end of the Martins’ block.
Still doesn’t seem to be interested in breeding. 10 hours nightly average. Usual area at N end of the Martins’ block.
Still doesn’t seem to be interested in breeding. 10.5 hours nightly average. Usual area at North end of the Martins’ block.
In his usual area in the northern area of Martins’ Owhiwa Road forestry block. Nightly average activity of 11 hours.
In his usual area in the northern area of Martins’ Owhiwa Road forestry block. Nightly activity of 12 hours average.
In his usual area in the northern area of Martins’ Owhiwa Road forestry block. Nightly activity of 11.5 hours average with the odd lower night – I hope that he hasn’t found another rock to incubate.
He has moved to the east of his normal area, within a few 100m of Beach Girl. Nightly activity of 12 hours.
The story of his recent rock incubating stunt got plenty of publicity including a good story in the Advocate. He is now back up to a normal high activity of 11 hours per night.
I don’t know who is the bigger fool, me or him? I have been carefully monitoring his nesting behaviour and even went in to weatherproof his “trap door” nest entrance in the recent rain but kept patiently waiting for an increase in activity before checking the nest. At 97 days (hatch is usually around 70-75 days) his data stream showed an increase in activity (up to 4 hrs from 2 hrs) so thought I would risk a look expecting dud eggs as it was his first nest. I carefully checked under him and found an egg sized rock – warm and worn smooth in places! I suppose it shows that he is a keen nester but a bit of a laugh when I have been talking up the historic importance of this first recorded nest in the area for decades- by this Rock star kiwi! Despite nesting hard on the rock he was still in good condition and 2100g, we took the opportunity to do his transmitter change too
Nesting at the north end of Kerry Martin’s Owhiwa road pine block. 67 days nesting on 31/01/21 and a good low 140 minutes nightly activity as the eggs come near to the end of incubation.
He has started nesting!!!!! He is in the Owhiwa road pine block, 19 days nesting on 14/12/20, activity is a good low 4 hours for this stage of the nest.
He is still settled in the Owhiwa Road pine block but not looking like nesting yet. 9 hours nightly activity.
He is settled in the Owhiwa Road pine block but not looking like nesting yet. 9.5 hours nightly activity.
He is still settled in the Owhiwa Road pine block. 11 hours nightly activity. When I was looking for Hancock I found him in a shallow burrow by himself and took the opportunity to change his transmitter band – he was a fat 2650g (cf 2100g back in March) so he seems very happy leading the single life at this stage!
Still settled in Owhiwa Road pine block. 11 hours nightly activity. He must start breeding soon!
Still settled in Owhiwa Road pine block. 12 hours nightly activity.
He is still well settled in the young pine block east of Owhiwa road, his nightly activity has gone back up to 11.5 hours.
He is still well settled in the young pine block east of Owhiwa road, his nightly activity is slowly going down with the odd 7 hour night so hopefully he is thinking about nesting.
He is well settled in the young pine block east of Owhiwa road, 12 hours nightly activity. Hopefully he is starting to think about breeding – Taonga was nearby when she dropped her transmitter.
He is still in the young pine block east of Owhiwa road, 10.5 hours nightly activity. I did his tx change: 105.0 mm bill length- so is fully grown, 2100 g in weight and good condition. It was a nice quiet catch so hope this sets a trend for him – kiwi often learn from tricky catches and become increasing hard to catch – they aren’t dumb!
Still in the young pine block east of Owhiwa road, 10 hours activity.
Down the bottom of the valley with the young pine block east of Owhiwa road, 9 hours activity.
Down the bottom of the valley with the young pine block east of Owhiwa road (Kelly Martin’s dog free property), 9 hours activity.
Still in the young pine block east of Owhiwa road (Kelly Martin’s dog free property that has had a long term predator trapping program – so a good place to be), 10 hours activity.
Still in the young pine block east of Owhiwa road, 10 hours activity. A kiwi was seen further up Owhiwa road at night, I checked Teina’s location the next day and he was still in the pine block so it is unlikely to be him – more good news for Kiwi Link.
After going walk about from Parua Bay he has settled halfway down Owhiwa Rd in the young pine block there. Activity 10.5 hours.
He has been walk about from Parua Bay to almost Franklin road and back to halfway down Owhiwa Rd. Activity 12 hours.
Did his 6 monthly health check: 2175g, 104.8mm (his bill has stopped growing showing that he has reached adulthood at 4 years old) and is in good condition. In Ross’s pines on Taraunui road but has starting to move around a bit more. Activity 12 hours.
He is still in the wetland in Ross’s pines, beside Taruanui road. Activity is 12.5 hours.
He is in the wetland in Ross’s pines, beside Taruanui road, Malaika is nearby. Activity is 12.5 hours.
He has still mainly been hanging out in the release area at the Ross’s but has wandered a couple of times to Lamb road. Activity is 12 hours.
He has mainly been hanging out in the release area at the Ross’s but has wandered a couple of times to Lamb road. Activity is 11 hours.
Teina the kiwi was one of the stars of our 2019 Backyard Kiwi community release held at Parua Bay where 490 people welcomed him and 3 other kiwi to the area. He quickly settled into the release area in the Ross’s pine block on Taraunui Road and spent 5 months there. He then wandered off heading westward all the way to the Kohinui Valley up near Franklin Road before heading back and settling in the pine forest east of Owhiwa Road. This is a great place for him to settle as the land owners have a professional trapper doing stoat control there and even more importantly have strict dog control on the property. We have high hopes that Teina will find a mate here and start breeding.