One Eye leads race for favourite kiwi as tiny West Coast flock help raise funds for conservation

Friday, 10 July 2026

One Eye is the dependable dad. Cheryl West Coast is unmistakably the boss. Cruise is a well-fed bachelor, while lovestruck Tupuārangi can't stop following Ruby Kiwi.

Those are just some of the personalities captured by volunteers monitoring a tiny population of seven great spotted kiwi near Westport.

The Tōtara Ōkari Kiwi Enhancement Network has launched a competition for people to vote for their favourite Buller/Kawatiri kiwi after intensive monitoring of the population.

The network is a group of dedicated volunteers working to protect and restore native wildlife along the Kawatiri Coastal Trail and beyond.

Cruise is a single male kiwi who is part of a group of seven great spotted kiwi found living in coastal Buller.

The team maintains over 250 predator traps to create a safer habitat for local species, especially the roroa.

Volunteer Peter Coburn, who is also an outdoors enthusiast, author, and photographer, has been spending a lot of time in the West Coast bush near Westport, setting up trail cameras and cataloguing the comings and goings of the population of great spotted kiwi/roroa.

He said the targeted trail-camera monitoring of two kiwi pairs had revealed they had successfully raised three chicks within the last two breeding seasons, taking the numbers within one small area from four to seven.

He said the volunteers were building on the work of another local, Jenny Brownlee, who had been trapping in the area for many years.

“Locals have been aware of the presence of this coastal population of roroa for a long time, but it was only Jenny Brownlee, through her 14-year trapping effort, who did anything to contribute to their survival,” Coburn said.

With the help of volunteers and younger members of the Brownlee family, feral cat and stoat numbers were steadily being reduced.

There was a similar improvement in pest numbers in the coastal bush area where trapping networks had been established, he said.

The Tōtara Ōkari Kiwi Enhancement Network is raising money to help their work in protecting native species.

“This intensive monitoring has also revealed much about the behaviour of these birds, especially in relation to their social interaction and habitat preferences.”

Coburn has uploaded videos online where people can view and vote for their favourite bird.

“It is great that, as a community, we are now working together to help protect, not only this unique roroa population, but all of the other native species that live within this special part of Kawatiri,” he said.

A group of volunteers maintain a network of traps around the Kawatiri Coastal Trail, which runs from Westport to Charleston, on the West Coast.

Months of trail-camera footage have revealed each bird's distinct personality.

One Eye has become the group's unlikely star — the strong, dependable father who has helped raise several chicks with his mate, Cheryl West Coast, who is clearly in charge.

Young male Tupuārangi is hopelessly devoted to Ruby Kiwi, while Cruise is a large, well-fed bachelor who mostly keeps to himself.

The youngest birds, Te Iti and Te Roa, behave like typical siblings, constantly competing for their parents' attention.

The videos and vote were launched at Shortjaw Brewery in Westport, which is releasing a special strong version of its Kiwi Dark, called “Kiwi Double Dark”, featuring a QR code to take people to the voting page.

All proceeds raised from the fundraising page will go directly to help the group’s trapping and monitoring programme.