Great Spotted Kiwi

An exciting project enhancing the kiwi population at Lake Rotoiti

The future of great spotted kiwi (GSK) at Lake Rotoiti has been greatly enhanced by the launching of a Friends of Rotoiti (FOR) project. Kiwi calls are only occasionally heard  in the Park and we hope to increase this unique experience.

FOR has been granted $55,000 from the Department of Conservation (DOC) Community Fund towards a 3 year project, in partnership with DOC, to enhance the existing GSK population.

16 GSK scourced from the Goulan Downs in Kahurangi National Park were introduced by DOC to the Mainland Island via 2 translocations in 2004 and 2006. Breeding activity was not as high as expected so 13 additional birds from Operation Nest Egg (ONE) have been added over the last 5 years with limited success.

Currently there are about 30 GSK in the Mainland Island and the project aims to increase the genetic biodiversity making the founding population more genetically sustainable. It has been determined that at least 40 individuals are necessary for a viable founding population. This genetic diversity increase will be achieved by locating, capturing and introducing a further 20 birds.

FOR has been working in partnership with DOC for 16 years and has developed an excellent working relationship, however we will need increased public support over the next 3 years to assist with this intensive work.

The initial stage of the project involves the training of FOR members in all aspects of kiwi location, capture, translocation and management. We are working towards developing a dedicated “hands on” group of kiwi enthusiasts to make this project successful. People wishing to join and/or support this group can contact FOR through the website www.friendsofrotoiti.co.nz.

“What New Zealand conservationists have done is to demonstrate that you have to be active, you have to be imaginative, decisive – you have to do something”.

Sir David Attenborough

Rotoiti Nature Recovery Project opening, Lake Rotoiti, February 1997

An Exciting Day Out - Wayne Sowman 

Emma, Patrick and I went up the Lake to remove Puremahia’s transmitter on Thursday morning. (21.6.18) Puremahia is one of three adult Great Spotted Kiwi in the Park that carry transmitters.

Opposite Whiskey Falls, we picked up his transmitter signal, on the St Arnaud Range side, which is known as the Rotoiti Nature Recovery Area. From the boat, we plotted Puremahai’s position by triangulation.

 Once ashore, as we walked up hill, Emma and Patrick listened to the transmitter signal to find Puremahia’s exact location. We found his burrow under a dead beech tree. Very quietly Patrick and Emma surveyed the area for the entrance to the burrow, which Emma found. Emma had to crawl into the burrow up to her waist.

This is when the excitement started. Emma pulled out a kiwi and it was a female bird, who didn’t think this was fun. She was a bit feisty. As Emma held her, Patrick went back to the burrow and found another kiwi, a young female, which I held. Patrick went back to the burrow again and finally pulled out Puremahia. We had to place him in a catch bag, as we were running out of hands. Patrick then weighed them, measured their beaks and checked their condition.

When he had finished, he went back to the burrow and found a kiwi chick. It was Puremahia’s chick, which had hatched in November or December last year. Patrick was able to take photos of the chick before we placed all the kiwi back in the burrow, and we left very quietly.

It was a day I will never forget. We don't really know what is out there in the park. Two kea flying around above us during our kiwi catch made our day.

I must say Patrick and Emma are very professional in their approach and care of the Kiwi.

Patrick has looked back at the records and found that one of the kiwi, without a transmitter, is a female, named Awaroa, and the other could be an Operation Nest Egg bird named Turimawiwi 2012.

As Patrick put it, ”Talk about a cosy burrow!”

RNRP Great Spotted Kiwi Acoustic Monitoring

To read about the results from the March 2018 acoustic monitoring in the Rotoiti Nature Recovery Area click here

Friends of Rotoiti roroa source site surveys 29 April – 3 May 2021

Story by Emma McCool

At the beginning of May we took another exciting step toward completing our roroa (great spotted kiwi) translocation. A team flew into three sites in Kahurangi National Park to investigate their suitability for the translocation of 20 roroa in total. The three sites under consideration were mid Spey River valley; Ugly River valley at the confluence with the Domett River: and eastern Gunner Downs. Call counts were undertaken by five people from dusk for 2-3 h. Acoustic recorders, programmed to run from 30 minutes after sunset to 30 minutes before sunrise, were deployed at and between the human counters’ locations. By comparing the timing of calls, the estimated distance of the kiwi from the recorders and, for people, the bearing, estimates of the location of birds were made. During the day, the areas were explored to determine suitable landing sites with adjacent camping, ease of getting around and potential call-back catch sites. Additional counts of other bird species were made to contribute to the NZ Birds atlas project.

Location of Rotoiti (red), sites of surveys (blue), and sources of roroa already translocated to Rotoiti (yellow)

The three potential sites (above) were identified using the following criteria:

• Known high call rates in previous surveys

• Proximity to sites from which roroa have already been taken to Rotoiti (genetic consideration)

• Expected moderate to high kiwi densities based on extensive roroa surveys and occupancy modelling

• Expected logistical practicality based on discussions with DOC staff, past experience and inspection of Google Earth

With these considerations the lucky team flew out from Karamea on April 29 and dispersed to our individual campsites. The first two days were spent in the Spey and Ugly River, before re-grouping and heading up to Gunner Downs for another few nights. We’d been waiting patiently for the perfect weather window to run the trip so by the time boots hit the ground we were well and truly poised for action. The Spey Valley was a drier aspect and had less roroa calling than the Ugly River. However, the team did identify approximately 9 dueting pairs and got a good feel for the area. In the Ugly River, a good campsite was identified near another helicopter landing. The forest was wetter on this side of saddle, but travel was generally easy with some open extents for night catching.

After a dampish, but awesome few days down in the valley we flew up to the Gunner Downs and found ourselves basking in the sun while we deployed our recorders and set up our campsites.

Competition was hot for the best campsite location on the sunny Gunner Downs. (R. Mosimann)

We had heard plenty of roroa calling while we were in the Spey and Ugly (the Ugly River was exceptionally good for a valley site). As I stamped away in the frost up on the Gunner Downs I couldn’t believe our fortune. Seeing, the torches flicker on and off as the team recorded roroa duets coming from all directions while the mist rolled across the downs was pretty special. During the day we assessed the site for catching logistics finding the travel in general quite good if you were able to pick a good path through the unpleasantly thick scrub that was a mosaic across the landscape. A healthy population of mātātā (fernbird) was a neat thing to encounter whilst walking around. Other logistical constraints were looked at during the few days (low cloud, boggy areas, dense scrubby margins, and lack of campsites). Work-arounds were identified for the majority of these issues and will most likely come down to good communication with heli operators if we are able to move forward with this as a source population.

Ruedi contributed some photo-journalism through an expose on which member of the team had the most superior campsite. Congratulations to Ricki Mitchell for top campsite on the Gunner Downs and a belated congratulations was given to me for having the closest resident roroa in the Ugly River (a pair basically lived in my tent for two nights... I was happy to share).

Many thanks to staff in DOC Westport and Takaka offices for facilitating this survey, to Sandra Wotherspoon for external scheds and to Karamea Heli Charters for getting us to and from the field. The field team comprised Emma McCool, Ricki Mitchell, Ruedi Mosimann, Robin Toy and Sandy Toy. The survey was supported by a grant to Friends of Rotoiti from the DOC Community Fund.

Low cloud was encountered in the morning and evening on Gunner Downs (R. Mosimann)

Story by Emma McCool

Top campsite at Gunner Downs (R.Mosimann)