Kiwi will once again live at Pataua North with several birds being released into the wild this weekend.
The release came a century after Pataua man Robert McDonald lamented hearing bellbirds for the last time as forests fell to farmland.
On Saturday more than 100 people, many children among them, gathered for a celebration and to watch the release of up to 10 kiwi in an area where predators have been seen off by the Pataua North Landcare group.
The reintroduction means it is the first time kiwi have lived in the area for decades. Many local people have never heard or seen them in the area.
In 1940 Mr MacDonald, who last heard the bellbird call in 1918, recorded that "the old Pataua is now gone, no more can the shrill call of the weka be heard on wet days and the kaka flying overhead is no more.
''His shrill call is gone and all the things that were nice and that old timers were fond of have disappeared."
A century after that wholesale destruction of virgin forest and the associated draining of wetlands, the Pataua community is slowly seeing a return of their natural heritage.
That is largely due to 20 or more landowners in the Pataua North Landcare Group, formed in 2009 to initiate pest control over about 800ha.
Their efforts have been backed by the Department of Conservation (DoC), Northland Regional Council (NRC) and Kiwi Coast.
In addition, several landowners have restored wetlands and two have done extensive plantings of native trees and shrubs.
Saturday's milestone was the first release of northern brown kiwi in the area in a DoC-approved staged release of 40 kiwi over the next five years.
In January this year, the full Pataua community voted overwhelmingly to adopt a responsible pet ownership policy so kiwi could live safely from other threats such as cats and dogs.