Kaore koe e rere ko tō reo anake e rere nei i te pō - Heeding the call of the kiwi

The shrill of kiwi calls can be heard across the back blocks of Whakaahurangi / Stratford.

Many of these calls are coming from the 410-hectare Parininihi ki Waitōtara (PKW)-owned Mangaoapa Forestry Block.

After 157 confirmed kiwi calls were logged in different parts of the block in mid-2021, PKW, along with its partners Te Kāhui Maru, East Taranaki Environment Collective (ETEC) and Taranaki Kiwi Trust, hatched a plan to find these feathered taonga.

By using the collated data, earlier this year a number of these kiwi were located by trained dogs and experienced handlers who safely caught them. After a thorough health check, a small lightweight transmitter was attached, before the kiwi were then carefully placed back into their burrow. They will now be part of an ongoing monitoring programme.

Jenny Feaver, Te Rau Mātorotoro / Procurement Coordinator, is thrilled with the discoveries, and credits the partnership for this success.

“We are learning so much from the expertise of our partners because it’s important that all kiwi continue to thrive in this block,” says Jenny.

“PKW is committed to understanding more about these taonga species and how we can support in their protection while working safely around them.”

The Mangaoapa Forestry Block is predominantly covered in radiata pine and edged in native bush. DOC250 predator traps are set and managed by the PKW taiao team, contractors, and volunteers, with more traps to be added around the home ranges of the monitored kiwi.

The PKW taiao team have also completed telemetry training with hopes they will have their own kiwi to track. This monitoring will help to understand how far kiwi move, when they are breeding and how long the males are incubating the eggs. Becoming qualified kiwi handlers is also an aspiration for the team.

At the end of the year the radiata pine will be harvested from the block. PKW have a number of mitigation measures in place to limit the disruption to the kiwi. This includes protecting known areas where they reside and if required, Operation Nest Egg will be actioned. This is where a team from the Taranaki Kiwi Trust will assess the threat to the eggs and may safely uplift them from the block. They will be transferred to an incubation facility and, once chicks are hatched, they will then be cared for at a creche facility until they can be returned to the block.

These monitoring and protection measures sit alongside PKW’s commitment to Te Koioratanga (Biodiversity), a key pou within its Kaitiakitanga Strategy.

Taranaki Kiwi Trust Manager Celine Filbee is pleased with the discovery of kiwi and the care PKW are taking.

“Little is known about how kiwi respond to the disruption to their habitat from logging, so it is timely and prescient that PKW have taken the lead in this kaupapa,” says Celine.

All monitoring activity provides important information for other forestry owners and contractors to guide future harvesting.

ETEC Conservation Manager Kat Strang is pleased this partnership is providing best practice for industry.

“With the amazing mahi that has been done to expand and grow kiwi populations, we’re now finding pine plantations becoming a commonly used habitat for kiwi,” says Kat.

“This research will help answer important questions on how kiwi utilise this habitat, and how this changes during different phases of harvesting. We feel that the knowledge gained from this research will be impactful, and result in applied measures that will help both kiwi and harvesters.”