100 extra kiwi to be released into Wellington hills

Wednesday, 6 March 2024

100 new kiwi birds will be introduced to Wellington’s hills over the coming three months.

A hundred more wild kiwi will be released into the scrub and bush-covered hills of Wellington over the next three months.

The adult North Island brown kiwi - kiwi-nui - will join the 60 that are already living in the western hills, a result of the Capital Kiwi Project that aims to restore a wild population of kiwi across 24,000 hectares of mostly private land.

The land, located to the south and west of Wellington, has had a network of 4600 stoat traps operating across the landscape for more than five years to help create an environment in which kiwi can thrive.

Capital Kiwi Project founder Paul Ward said the release of the 100 kiwi was a milestone for conservation in Wellington.

“Together we are building a wild kiwi population at pace and scale. Epic effort from communities, iwi and landowners has created a vast landscape where kiwi can be restored to the wild… and it’s in the backyard of our capital city – kiwi can be heard calling 10 minutes from Wellington’s CBD.”

Ward said the extraordinary scale of the permit to transfer the birds from the Department of Conservation was an endorsement of the project’s progress and the work of the project team.

The ‘kiwi live here’ signs marked the return of the birds to the capital as part of the Capital Kiwi Project, which saw 63 kiwi released into the Mākara hills surrounding Wellington in late 2022.

“These kiwi are putting on weight, establishing territories and breeding and we’re stoked to be able to bring 100 more into the project landscape over the next three months.”

Up to 60 kiwi will arrive at Wellington Airport via light aircraft flights donated by the Wellington Aero Club on March 18, 19, 20. The remainder will be released in April and May.

The first 60 kiwi came via the project’s partnership with Save the Kiwi and Ngāti Korokī Kahukura at Sanctuary Mountain Maungatautari.

Capital Kiwi is one of the first recipients of an extensive Kōhanga Kiwi breeding programme at the country’s largest fenced sanctuary.

The export of birds reduces carrying crowding within the sanctuaries and enables wild kiwi populations to be established and bolstered.