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Thanks to an active intervention program, at Whangarei Heads we really do have kiwi in our backyard.

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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.

 

February 2024

He has dropped down the valley at the north end of Martins’ pine block.  9 hours activity.

January 2024

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

November and December 2023

In his usual area of pampas and pines at the north end of Martins’ pine block.  9 hours activity.

October 2023

In his usual area of pampas and pines at the north end of Martins’ pine block.  9 hours activity.

September 2023

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.

August 2023

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.

July 2023

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!

Teina

Atawhai

June 2023

Still in his usual haunt of pampas and pines at the north end of Martins’ pine block Owhiwa road.12 hrs activity

May 2023

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.

April 2023

Still is in his usual haunt of pampas and pines at the north end of Martins’ pine block Owhiwa road.11.5 hrs activity

March 2023

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.

February 2023

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!

January 2023

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.

December 2022

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.

November 2022

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.

October 2022

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.

September 2022

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.

August 2022

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.

July 2022

Still in the native bush at the north end of Martins’ block. Still high activity; 12 hours nightly average.

June 2022

Still in the native bush at the north end of Martins’ block. Still high activity; 11.5 hours nightly average.

May 2022

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.

April 2022

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.

March 2022

Hasn’t made any nesting attempts this season (rocks or otherwise). 11 hours nightly average. Usual area at North end of the Martins’ block.

February 2022

Still doesn’t seem to be interested in breeding. 9 hours nightly average. Usual area at N end of the Martins’ block.

January 2022

Still doesn’t seem to be interested in breeding. 9 hours nightly activity

December 2021

Still doesn’t seem to be interested in breeding. 10.5 hours nightly average.  Usual area at the northern end of the Martins’ block.

November 2021

Still doesn’t seem to be interested in breeding. 10 hours nightly average. Usual area at end of the Martins’ block.

October 2021

Still doesn’t seem to be interested in breeding. 10 hours nightly average. Usual area at N end of the Martins’ block.

September 2021

Still doesn’t seem to be interested in breeding. 10.5 hours nightly average. Usual area at North end of the Martins’ block.

August 2021

This guy doesn’t seem to be interested in breeding after his stint rock incubating.  Did his band change, he is a fat 2800g!!! 10.5 hours nightly average.  He was in the pampas and young pines at the North end of the Martins’ block.

July 2021

In his usual area in the northern area of Martins’ Owhiwa Road forestry block. Nightly average activity of 11 hours.

June 2021

In his usual area in the northern area of Martins’ Owhiwa Road forestry block. Nightly activity of 12 hours average.

May 2021

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.

April 2021

He has moved to the east of his normal area, within a few 100m of Beach Girl. Nightly activity of 12 hours.

March 2021

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.

February 2021

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

Teina’s Rock Egg!

January 2021

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.

December 2020

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.

November 2020

He is still settled in the Owhiwa Road pine block but not looking like nesting yet.  9 hours nightly activity.

October 2020

He is settled in the Owhiwa Road pine block but not looking like nesting yet.  9.5 hours nightly activity.

September 2020

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!

August 2020

Still settled in Owhiwa Road pine block.  11 hours nightly activity. He must start breeding soon!

July 2020

Still settled in Owhiwa Road pine block.  12 hours nightly activity.

June 2020

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.

May 2020

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.

April 2020

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.

March 2020

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!

Teina March 2020

February 2020

Still in the young pine block east of Owhiwa road, 10 hours activity.

January 2020

Down the bottom of the valley with the young pine block east of Owhiwa road, 9 hours activity.

December 2019

Down the bottom of the valley with the young pine block east of Owhiwa road (Kelly Martin’s dog free property), 9 hours activity.

November 2019

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.

October 2019

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.

September 2019

After going walk about from Parua Bay he has settled halfway down Owhiwa Rd in the young pine block there. Activity 10.5 hours.

August 2019

He has been walk about from Parua Bay to almost Franklin road and back to halfway down Owhiwa Rd. Activity 12 hours.

July 2019

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.

June 2019

He is still in the wetland in Ross’s pines, beside Taruanui road. Activity is 12.5 hours.

May 2019

He is in the wetland in Ross’s pines, beside Taruanui road,  Malaika is nearby. Activity is 12.5 hours.

April 2019

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.

March 2019

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.

Kiwi release 2019

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.

 

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