More kiwi + recap

I visited the Kiwi house in Rotorua hoping to see more kiwis and take more images. Once we (I was with five others) paid the fee and were taken to the kiwi house, we were told we would not be allowed to take any photos whatsoever, so I have no images to share for most of this. It is so sad, because they were so much fun to watch. It was unquestionably the best viewing the entire time I was in New Zealand.

We were first taken to the kiwi hatching area by a guy named Dion. The program had raised approximately 500 kiwis which they then released into the wild. It was an impressive operation. I believe Dion said there were about 20 eggs being incubated while we were there. There were 17 chicks that had recently hatched.

Of the eggs being incubated, we saw two eggs up close. Each egg was marked with lines that indicated the growth of the chick during the final stages of incubation. One egg moved and wiggled quite a bit, as if about to hatch. The woman that cared for the eggs shined a light on each of them so you could make out a silhouette for each. The one that wiggled appeared as if it might start punching its beak out at any second.

They also picked up a tiny chick to give it medicine. It fought a little. It must not have been the first time it was given medicine. Afterward, a different woman cradled the chick in both hands to give us a better look and it tried to hide its beak and head from us.

Then we moved to an area where two tiny glassed-in dens were visible in a darkened room. Two chicks where huddled together in one den, and another chick was sleeping alone in the other den. The two chicks eventually got into a mild shoving match and we saw their heads and beaks for a short while before they huddled back together to sleep.

In the next area there were several large pens with no glass or wire or anything beyond a 30” tall barrier. There were three juvenile or adult kiwis, each in its own penned area. One was an older female that apparently didn’t like humans much. Another female was in the area next to hers. It was a little shy, but got close to us.

The third kiwi was male and was by far the most active. It would get very close to us. I would estimate it got less than two feet away from us many times, and since there was no glass, I literally could have just reached out and touched it.

It was soooo hard not to reach out...

Kiwis have surprisingly strong legs and feet. It hopped around a lot and jumped up on one foot then drop-kick a log with the other foot, apparently to break it open more to get at insects. It made lots of little sounds. Mostly quick snorts as it pecked around, but at least once it even sneezed. It also got excited and jumped against the little barrier as if trying to hop up to us. It would then roll around in the dirt and jump back up and dart back and forth excitedly. It was so much fun to watch.

I returned that evening, between 9 p.m. and 10:15 p.m., to the external nocturnal house and saw four more adult kiwi. One of them called out - a loud startling cry which it repeated about a dozen times. I caught that on video.



Another one touched my hand. I also caught that on video. I had the camera on the ledge of the barrier to steady it and the kiwi just stretched out a couple of times to sniff the camera. I thought it was funny the first time and had no idea it would actually brush against me the next time. I felt like I had been blessed...

At Otorohanga I saw two more kiwi. One was about 13 years old (I think he said they can live to over 50, but I need to verify that since my memory could be wrong). The other just over 1 year old. The 13 year old repeatedly charged the fence between them and stuck his beak through a chicken wire-style fence to attack the younger kiwi. It was surprisingly aggressive. I caught this on video, as well, but it might be too dark to make out very well.

As mentioned in a previous post, I also saw one kiwi at Mt. Bruce (the first I had seen in person).

Depending on how you want to count them, I have seen at least 14 kiwi in person.

1 - Mt. Bruce (behind glass)
2 - Otorohanga (behind glass)

[11 at Rotorua]
4 - juvenile and adult kiwi in their outdoor dens at night
3 - juvenile and adult kiwi in their interior larger dens
3 - kiwi chicks in their tiny dens behind glass
1 - chick (being cared for in the nursery behind glass)

And, if you count the 2 silhouettes still in their eggs, then you could say 16 ... but that’s a stretch, of course. Nevertheless, it was cool to watch the egg wiggle around and move like a vibrating Weeble on its side.

As silly as it might seem to some, seeing the kiwis might just be the highlight of my stay in New Zealand. I joked with Dion that it was almost like a spiritual experience, and he got very excited and replied, “That’s what I thought the first time I saw kiwi in person!”

Meg told Claire that I had seen 14 kiwi.

Claire responded, “He is in New Zealand and he has only seen 14 Kiwis?”

Cheeky girl.