Volunteers claim “some sort of record” as 46 eggs are lifted over two nights
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In what they believe might be “some sort of record”, staff and volunteers working with a Hawke’s Bay-based conservation trust retrieved 46 kiwi eggs in just two days from nests in the Maungataniwha Native Forest adjacent to Te Urewera. These were delivered to the National Kiwi Hatchery in Rotorua and Save the Kiwi’s Gallagher Kiwi Burrow near Taupō for incubation.
The first batch of 25 eggs from the Forest Lifeforce Restoration Trust’s highly successful Maungataniwha Kiwi Programme was retrieved in the evening of Wednesday 10 September, with a further 21 lifted on Monday 15 September and in the small hours of Tuesday 16. The number of eggs involved meant that, on both occasions, they were transferred by helicopter for the swiftest possible delivery.
The eggs will be incubated at the National Kiwi Hatchery and the Gallagher Kiwi Burrow. The resulting chicks will be reared in protected enclosures until they weigh about one kilogramme, heavy enough to go toe-to-beak with a predator, then released back into the forest from where their eggs were retrieved, or at one of the Trust’s other properties where it is re-establishing a second viable kiwi population.
“This is certainly the most eggs I’ve ever heard of being lifted in a single operation – not once, but twice in as many weeks,” said Forest Lifeforce Restoration Trust kiwi project manager Tamsin Ward-Smith.
“We often talk about how kiwi conservation is a team effort but for these two lifts that teamwork was taken to new heights. I cannot stress enough our gratitude to the dedicated group of kiwi enthusiasts and volunteers who came together to make this extraordinary feat happen.
“We really do appreciate the effort and time it takes for them to get into camp to help. It’s also usually pretty cold doing night stake-outs, and there’s generally not a lot of sleep.”
Ms Ward-Smith also gave a shout-out to the Trust’s kiwi conservation partners, the National Kiwi Hatchery and Save the Kiwi’s Gallagher Kiwi Burrow, who worked closely with her team to take delivery, all in one go, of this flood of eggs for incubation.
“The teams lifting the eggs did a fantastic coordination job,” said Helen McCormick, husbandry manager at Save the Kiwi’s Gallagher Kiwi Burrow. “It was an impressive sight to see all the egg containers lined up on delivery.”
With so many eggs arriving at one time, National Kiwi Hatchery and Gallagher Kiwi Burrow staff came together to make sure each egg was checked, washed and moved into an incubator as quickly as possible.
“We were excited to see so many fertile eggs at one time; it was a great start to the season, with both facilities going from just a few kiwi eggs to being really busy,” Ms McCormick said.
“It was a great opportunity for our manuhiri to witness the arrival of the eggs and experience conservation in action,” said National Kiwi Hatchery manager Emma Bean. “We loved receiving so many eggs and are privileged, as the largest kiwi hatchery in New Zealand, to play such an important role in kiwi conservation alongside the Forest Lifeforce Restoration Trust.”
The Maungataniwha Kiwi Project is fast carving out a name for itself as one of the most prolific and successful kiwi conservation initiatives in the country. Since its inception in 2006 it has saved more than 700 kiwi.
This is because fully-fledged juvenile kiwi raised in protected crèches and then released back into the forest once they are large enough to fight off predators have an approximately 70 percent chance of survival to adulthood, compared to just five percent if hatched in the bush and left unprotected against predators.