A couple of weeks ago our Kiwi Trust (Save the Kiwi) visited Sanctuary Mountain Maungatautari (Waikato) – not just for a board meeting, but to see how a modern-day “muster” and translocation looks these days.  

It reminded me of a restoration exercise in a huge garden!  

Imagine having a sizeable territory of pretty cool forest, surrounded by a predator-proof fence. We’re talking about 3400 Hectares of safe habitat for all sorts of New Zealand Native/endemic species from a couple of Kakapo to Takahe, stitchbird and saddleback as well as noisy kaka.  

And oh yes, there are more than 2000 North Island (Western) Brown Kiwi thriving in there as well.  

Thriving is the operative word.  

It certainly didn’t always go that well in the past: the decline of North Island Brown Kiwi was about 2% per year, which triggered the then Prime Minister John Key suggest we should have a go at turning -2% into +2%.  

John MacLennan (Scientist and Trustee of Save the Kiwi) came up with the concept of Kohanga Kiwi. 

Imagine allowing a heap of kiwi to “do their thing” in such a forest and use that “Kohanga Kiwi” as a Nursery from which we can “harvest” plenty of birds to translocate to predator-controlled areas elsewhere – Capital Kiwi (Wellington), Tongariro Forest, Taranaki Mounga. Last year 222 birds were shifted to new and safe habitats in the North Island.  

This year it looks like there will be even more travellers in the Kohanga Kaupapa!  

Birds are caught during the day and at night with highly trained, muzzled kiwi dogs. The birds are tagged by bands or transponders, weighed and health-checked, before kept in a smaller forest enclosure. A day or so later, the birds are transported to their final destination: a forest that is protected from predators.  

The cool thing is that this Maungatautari Muster is taking place in the forest and in the local Pukeatua Primary school (Handy to have a spare classroom to assist in the kaupapa!). 

The kids follow what’s happening with the Scientists and volunteers who catch the birds. They record the sizes, the weights, the age, and whether the birds are male or female. They also observe the health checks and note everything down on their own observation sheets.  

My goodness! I wish I was at such a primary school when I grew up, learning about the operations Manual of the Planet and how to restore our Ecological systems. 

HQ of Maungatautari Muster 2025  

Kiwi out of forest and back to school  

Kiwi health check. Photo / Kim McGuire and the Maungatautari team 

This photo is a really good example of female vs male.  Gaia (left) is holding a sub adult female and Steven (right) a sub adult male. Both weigh just a little over 1.8kg, and yet you can see they carry that weight differently. The female has a longer body, flatter head, larger feet and curved bill. The male is a smaller bird, has a rounded head and much shorter body and smaller feet. 

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