Wellington celebrates first kiwi chicks in the wild in 150 years

Thursday, 30 November 2023

Two kiwi chicks have been born in the wild in Wellington, the first in more than 150 years.

Capital Kiwi Project founder Paul Ward said the chicks hatched from a pair of eggs about a week ago.

“This is a massive milestone for our goal of building a wild population of kiwi on Wellington’s back doorstep. It is a wonderful Christmas present for Wellingtonians.”

Ward said only a third of the adult kiwi released into the project area were monitored so it was possible there were more chicks in the wild.

He warned it was still early days for the chicks. “These chicks now need to fend for themselves in the wild. The coming months are vitally important as they grow and put on weight to the point that they can fend off stoats with their big claws.

The two chicks were born and discovered by Capital Kiwi operations lead Pete Kirkman who was hoping to pull out a single bird from deep in the fronds of a mamaku fern. But he was delighted to pull out two, a Facebook post said.

Sixty-three kiwi were released into the vast hill country south-west of Wellington city, around Mākara, since November 2022 as part of he project.

As the birds started to disperse, Capital Kiwi issued a plea for people to be careful.

Of particular concern was people out with their dogs and Ward earlier in 2023 asked people to keep them on a lead.

“The vision really is based on people and looking after this taonga species. Wellingtonians have shown they are incredibly up for that to date and this is the next step, managing our dogs responsibly.”

In the Bay of Islands, conservation groups are hunting kiwi-killing dogs who have wiped out half the population, killing 11 kiwi at the Opua Conservation Area in just three months.

Ward in August said they were heading into nesting season and hoping to have more exciting news in the near future.

The culmination of more than five years of work, the Capital Kiwi Project aims to bring 250 birds over the six years to the 24,000 hectare area considered larger than the Abel Tasman National Park