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Kiwi eggs airlifted from Aorangi  Tama Wipaki, Aorangi Awarua trustee, holding a male kiwi prior to it being fitted
with a transmitter on a previous trip to Aorangi.
Over the last few years the Cape Kidnappers and Ocean Beach Wildlife Preserve, the Palmerston North and Wellington branches of the Department of Conservation, Aorangi Awarua Trust and volunteers from far and wide together with assistance from Andy Lowe and Hill Country Corporation and Wanganui Aero Work have located what was thought to be the last sprinkling of remaining Ruahine kiwi.
In April 2006 the first kiwi pair were caught and fitted with a radio transmitter so that their breeding could be monitored. A second paired male kiwi was caught the following year.
Like elsewhere around New Zealand where there is no control of kiwi predators it is likely that kiwi chick survival in the Ruahine Forest Park has been low. With low recruitment of young kiwi the population has slowly dwindled over time. Operation Nest Egg helps to boost kiwi numbers. It involves removing kiwi eggs from the wild, hatching them in captivity and raising the chicks until they are over 800 gm (when they are better able to defend themselves from stoats) and then returning them to the wild. The recently instigated Te Potae o Awarua project set up between DoC and the Aorangi Awarua Trust is an important step in gaining more protection for kiwi in the area.
Predominantly a research project, 200 stoat traps have been set up in the area aimed to test whether stoats will enter non-baited traps. With regular monthly monitoring visits by volunteers knowledge of the area and its inhabitants is rapidly increasing. The project has great community support with sponsorship from various agencies including Horizons Regional Council, Nga Whenua Rahui, Wanganui Aero Work, Hill Country Corporation and Zeagolds Foods, who supply eggs for bait.
The increased monitoring and knowledge of the kiwi in this area has contributed to a recent decision to extend the trap line to enclose the Ikawetea gully where the kiwi currently reside. This may ultimately provide a much safer environment for the young kiwi when they are returned back in the future and also more protection for those that have hatched naturally.
Aorangi Awarua Trust spokesperson Richard Steedman is excited by the recent developments. He said, “The three eggs being taken to safety and the increased stoat control in the area are all fantastic moves in our bid to save these last few Ruahine kiwi from extinction.”
Removing the eggs involved locating the nests of the two males Rua and Black during the day (while they were still asleep) and then returning at night once they had left to feed. This avoids any risk of the male accidentally cracking the eggs, but can mean a long wait nearby.
The kiwi currently monitored near Ruahine Corner would be inaccessible for Operation Nest Egg without the use of a helicopter to get the eggs safely out of the forest.
One team got an early night with the male leaving to feed at a reasonable hour of 9.15pm. The other team however had a long wait by the second nest with the male not leaving until 2.00 am. They then walked the eggs out to camp at first light to meet the helicopter.
The eggs were flown the 30 minute flight out to Napier airport in a Heli-Air helicopter sponsored by Hill Country Corporation, where they met Louise McNamara from Napier DoC who carefully drove the eggs through to Kiwi Encounter in Rotorua. “It really is a tag team of effort and always a relief to pass the precious eggs onto the next person. I am always glad to hear that they have made it safely into the incubator - then I can have a sleep,” said Tamsin Ward-Smith, manager Cape Kidnappers and Ocean Beach Wildlife Preserve and leader of the egg recovery expedition.
Over the next few years these young Operation Nest Egg kiwi will boost the existing Ruahine kiwi population.
Courtesy of the Taihape Times |
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