Whangārei Native Bird Recovery Centre co-founder Robert Webb checks the viability of two Northland brown kiwi eggs found after a nest was accidentally disturbed. Photos / Lucy Graham and NZME
Whangārei Native Bird Recovery Centre co-founder Robert Webb checks the viability of two Northland brown kiwi eggs found after a nest was accidentally disturbed. Photos / Lucy Graham and NZME
Two kiwi eggs discovered by someone who accidentally disturbed a nest in Northland last week are now in the safe hands of Whangārei’s Native Bird Recovery Centre.
Just in time, too – only a few days after Northland Regional Council (NRC) staff delivered the eggs to the centre, one ofthem hatched.
Recovery centre co-founder and bird rearing specialist Robert Webb was there on Saturday night to welcome the new chick. He expects the second egg to hatch in about a fortnight, perhaps even on Christmas Day.
Webb is waiting to gauge the bird’s personality and to determine its gender before naming it. That will take a week or two, because he needs to see how long its bill (beak) grows.
An NRC spokesperson said the council was grateful the person who disturbed the nest called it in. One of the council’s specialist kiwi handlers was then able to carefully recover the eggs and deliver them to Webb while they were still viable.
Webb said the chicks will be kept inside the centre for about two weeks before being put in a special pen for a further six weeks. After that, they’ll be taken to the predator-proof, creche-like conditions at Limestone Island, in the Whangārei Harbour.
Recovery centre bird expert Robert Webb creates a careful record of each egg. Photos / Lucy Graham
They’ll remain on the island for about a year before the Department of Conservation (DoC) releases them back into the wild – ideally in the forest where they were found.
For now, the new chick is thriving in its incubator, living off belly fat from its yolk sac, Webb said.
Next week, staff will begin offering the chick specially prepared food – a runny, soup-like mix of peas, corn, ox heart and vitamins mixed together with a blender.
Unlike many birds, kiwi don’t need to be fed with an eye dropper or turkey baster but quickly learn to dip their bills in the mix and feed themselves, Webb said.
Sarah Curtis is a news reporter for the Northern Advocate, focusing on a wide range of issues. She has nearly 20 years’ experience in journalism, most of which she spent court reporting in Gisborne and on the East Coast.
