Lively kiwi group given extra push

By TONY GEE

The densest population of North Island brown kiwi in the country are being offered a safer environment by a partnership between landowners, the New Zealand Kiwi Foundation and a pest management contractor.

Landowners on the isolated 3500ha Purerua Peninsula in the northern Bay of Islands are supporting the kiwi protection project set up by contractor Laurence Gordon late last year.

An estimated population of 600 kiwi live on the peninsula.

"We can't afford to lose it," Mr Gordon said.

One location, in an area known as Rangiahua near the historic Marsden Cross site, has the densest North Island brown kiwi population known.

This 60ha area is home to about 20 kiwi.

The highest kiwi call count monitored over 24 hours was recorded there.

North Island brown kiwi numbers on the peninsula compared with about one or two to every 20ha in places further south such as the Urewera forest, Mr Gordon said.

"They breed twice a year up here but only once a year in the central North Island," he said.

He describes the Purerua Peninsula as "very productive kiwi country".

It has a warm climate with a good food supply of crickets and grubs in its grasslands.

Field work began on the Purerua project this year and was given urgency when observation over two nights recorded several dozen kiwi but only one juvenile.

That indicated a poor survival rate for young birds.

About 500 poison bait stations have been laid to eliminate possums and rats as a first step in the protection programme.

Mr Gordon said bait take is noticeably faster around the peninsula's coastal fringe, although it is likely to be at least another month before the environment is relatively possum-free and the second phase of the pest control campaign can start.

This will involve placing traps to catch more kiwi predators such as stoats, weasels and wild cats.

Kiwi call-monitoring will be done by volunteer landowners and foundation members at six or seven sites on the peninsula during the national call-monitoring period, from May 29 to June 14.

The aim is to establish valuable figures on kiwi numbers.

Mr Gordon said co-operation by landowners with pest control on their properties was vital for the project's success.

He had been pleased with responses from the four major landholders and the dozen smaller owners.

"This part of the operation was remarkably simple compared to what we did at Russell [in another recent kiwi protection project] where there were hundreds of landowners involved."

He said the Purerua project was progressing well towards a safer environment for the North Island brown kiwi and also brown teal, which have been found on the peninsula.

Landowners and the Kiwi Foundation, a charitable trust, can also look forward to the possible reintroduction of other species on the peninsula, including the endangered weka.

nzherald.co.nz/environment