Waiting for kiwi number 1000

The kiwi husbandry team at Rainbow Springs Kiwi Encounter is eagerly waiting the arrival of their milestone 1000th kiwi.

A sudden flurry of hatchings has kept the team busy and they're expecting their 1000th kiwi any day now with only three more hatchings to go before that goal is reached.

Manager Claire Travers said they had four eggs which were in the process of hatching.

"I am confident that within the week we will reach the 1000th milestone."

Kiwi Encounter - the park's hatching facility which is part of the BNZ Save the Kiwi Trust Programme - began the season with just a dozen hatchings to go before reaching its 1000th chick.

The first chick emerged three weeks ago and there have been steady hatchings since then. The latest occurred on Tuesday morning from a Tongariro egg.

A chick from Maungataniwha near Napier hatched on Monday night and two chicks hatched on Sunday evening, one from Omataroa in Whakatane and the other from Whirinaki forest.

As part of BNZ Operation Nest Egg, eggs are gathered from nests to save them from predators and are incubated and cared for at Kiwi Encounter.

The kiwis are returned to the wild when they weigh a healthy 1kg.

Rainbow Springs has been involved in Operation Next Egg since 1995, beginning with the arrival of a single abandoned kiwi egg.

Kiwi Encounter is the only purpose-built kiwi conservation facility open to the public in the world.

It is sponsored by the BNZ Save the Kiwi Trust, a charity partnership between BNZ, the Department of Conservation and Forest and Bird.

Captive breeding programmes are also run from the site along with rehabilitation work for birds injured in the wild.

More than 100 North Island brown kiwi chicks are successfully hatched each year at Kiwi Encounter.