Watch for Kiwi –  Kiwi Road Kill  May 2015

As the kiwi population expands at Whangarei Heads kiwi sightings are becoming frequent, which is exciting for everyone, however one of the more distressing indicators of kiwi around is road kill

We haven’t had a known road killed kiwi since last November but now another has been killed on the usual stretch of road – between McLeod Bay and the Nook turn off.  This guy was a wild-hatched male that had survived to breeding age (thanks to our predator trapping) and was 2200g in weight and had a bill of 106.3mm – he ran out in front of a car at 6am. Todd took the opportunity to show the kids at Manaia Kindy one of their kiwi up close – they were fascinated. Here is an account of their kiwi encounter…

Tuesday, May 26, 2015
Our Kiwi Toanga-told by Becky Manaia Kindergarten

Last week our local kiwi expert Todd Hamilton visited us at Manaia. Unfortunately a male kiwi had been hit by a car and was dead. Todd respectfully talked to the children about our beautiful taonga. The children have a great ongoing interest in birds, especially kiwi, so this was a unique learning experience where our tamariki were able to respectfully touch the kiwi and look at different features of it that they would not have been able to had it been alive.

Todd told us that years ago there was so much food around that kiwi’s lived on the ground, as they didn’t need to fly. Then when humans came they brought mammals such as stoats, which love to eat kiwi. Dogs also like our kiwi, as they are small like a little dog. Because kiwi don’t fly they don’t have a lot of muscles and so get easily hurt when a dog grabs them. We learnt that male kiwi are smaller than females. We were able to see and touch the kiwi’s large feet, which he uses to scratch and fight with. We saw the kiwi’s small wing and the tiny hook, which scientists are unsure what it is for. We found out that kiwi are the only bird in the world without a tail and the only bird you will see whiskers on, (feathers which have evolved).

Todd showed us the tiny hole at the end of his bill that the kiwi uses for sniffing and we found out kiwi’s have an amazing sense of smell. Most birds can’t smell, but kiwi has the best sense of any bird in the whole world. Also we got to see the kiwi’s ears, which you also don’t see on many birds. Kiwi also have feathers to keep themselves warm and to camouflage in the bush. Todd told us that to begin with there were 80 kiwi in this area and now after all the trapping and hard work from organisations like Backyard Kiwi there are now 500 kiwi. We are so fortunate to have such an amazing bird in our backyard.