Friends of Flora - Return of the Kiwi Project

Great Spotted Kiwi Roroa

Having started the blue duck back on the road to recovery, our focus turned to the great spotted kiwi/roroa – Apteryx haastii.

This bird, the largest of New Zealand’s kiwi, had all but gone from the Flora area, for over 30 years just the odd bird was heard in the wider catchment. FoF and DOC are looking to re-establish a sustainable breeding population of these birds, and started the first translocation in the first quarter of 2010.

Stoats are the main predator of the Great Spotted Kiwi, so our initial focus for kiwi re-establishment was to prove that stoat numbers were low enough for the survival of young kiwi. The best method to do this is by Footprint Tracking Tunnels (FTT’s). After two years of FTT checking, we have been very pleased to find we are tracking a very low number of stoats (- <0.5%) in the Flora . This is one of the lowest in the country.

We have carried out a survey within the Kahurangi National Park and have found an area within the northern sector of the park from which we can remove kiwi without harming the local population. We have been given the go ahead by both the Kiwi Recovery Group and local Iwi (Maori) for this project.

May 2010 After two postponements due to the weather the Friends of Flora's long-awaited great spotted kiwi re-establishment took place on Wednesday 5 May 2010. Twelve roroa arrived at the Flora Hut in two helicopter flights from the Clark River (Golden Bay hinterland) accompanied by our volunteer Des and DOC Motueka's trainee ranger Earl. A reception committee of Friends of Flora (FoF), DOC, pollies, iwi, media and interested locals awaited them.

Maryann Ewers, FoF's Chairperson, pictured above with Gavin Udy of DOC and one of their special guests. Picture by Trish Grant. Maryann said on the day:

"There are extra special feelings in the achievement of having these kiwi arrive here today. After being given the green light from the Kiwi Recovery Group and iwi for the translocation, we were set with the task of having to find the $24,000 necessary for the specially trained kiwi dog team, the helicopter usage and overall costs to get to this stage. We were terribly disappointed when all funding applications for this were turned down, every one of them. We are told that corporate sponsorship is readily available - we, as yet, haven't found this to be so. We discussed whether to abandon the reintroduction for another 12 months and apply for funding in the next round, or should we try and raise the money ourselves. We knew by now we only had six weeks to do this our deadline in securing the kiwi dog team. The unanimous decision was made let's go for it! So began one of the most hectic times for Friends of Flora volunteers and supporters! I would like to personally thank all of you for the time and energy you put in to this. A job well done!"

The birds were placed in lidded artificial burrows watched over by FoF volunteers who lifted the lids at dusk to allow the birds to emerge in their own time. FoF volunteers and DOC staff are carefully monitoring the progress of the birds over the coming days and months. After three years of planning and furious fundraising the kiwi have returned to the Flora.

Funding is still required for the ongoing monitoring of the birds and, hopefully, their offspring over the next two years. So far the exercise has been funded almost entirely by "Mum and Dad" donors, many of whom sponsored Des Lehndorf's epic South Island "walk for kiwis".

July 2011 One year into the project we can report that, of the original 12 kiwi, 9 have gained weight, 1 bird's transmittor appears to have failed, 10 kiwi have paired up but, as yet, we have had no kiwi chicks. One kiwi (Totaranui) started walking off out of the protected area and had to be recaught and flown home by helicopter.

With financial support from NZ Lotteries, we have gained detailed information about the movement and activity of the kiwi. Our current thoughts are to carry on monitoring for at least 2 more years with the hope that we have some chicks. We also will be looking at other ways to increase the size of our kiwi group - possibly with a further introduction of kiwi from another source population in 2013. Call counts in February and March showed the presence of kiwi in the Cobb Valley and it is possible that a corridor could link these two populations.

Tel: 03 528 9054 | Friends of Flora, PO Box 317 Motueka | fof@fof.org.nz