JONATHAN DOW
When dad popped out to grab a feed on Monday night, 12 kiwi eggs were lifted from nests in the Maungataniwha forest, southwest of Lake Waikaremoana.
Under "Operation Nest Egg" half of the kiwi will be back at Maungataniwha early next year. The other half will form a population at
the Cape Kidnappers and Ocean Beach Wildlife Preserve.
Volunteers in teams of three spent Monday night waiting for the male kiwi to leave seven nests at Maungataniwha. Some were lucky - one kiwi left his nest at 8pm, they made the grab and could head off. One team waited all night for a kiwi that never left.
Yesterday morning the eggs were delivered to incubators at Rainbow Springs, Rotorua and to the Napier City Council's kiwi breeding facility at Westshore.
Council reserves manager Tony Billings said if the eggs hatched in the wild there was a strong chance they would be killed by predators.
The eggs, which are now around 50 days old, will hatch at about 78 days. Until then the incubator will keep them at 34deg, except for four hours a night when the incubator switches off to replicate the male's nightly food run.
