SaveHow to Kiwi YOUR GUIDE TO HELPING SAVE OUR NATIONAL BIRD Photo: BNZ Save the Kiwi Trust This guide accompanies the “How to Save Kiwi” training DVD. Table of Contents 1 About Kiwi Community Efforts 5 Five Species 6 A Versatile Bird 6 A Biological Oddity 7 The Threats Kiwi Face 7 2 Predator Control & Monitoring The Threats 9 First Things First 9 Types of Control 10 – Stoats 10 – Ferrets 12 – Rats 12 – Cats and Dogs 13 – Possums 14 – Hedgehogs 15 – Pigs 16 Keep Good Records 17 3 Cats and Dogs Cats 19 – Wild Cats 19 – Traps 20 – Poison 21 – House Cats Also Kill Kiwi 21 Dogs 22 – What You Can Do 22 – Hunting Dogs 23 – Helpful Resources 23 2 CONTENTS PAGE 4 BNZ Operation Nest EggTM The Beginning 25 How it Works 25 The Benefi ts 26 Advocating for Kiwi 26 Buying Time 27 5 Call Count Monitoring Types of Monitoring 29 Kiwi Call Count Monitoring Training Package 30 Setting up a Monitoring Programme 30 Specialised Monitoring Methods 31 6 Habitat Protection Adaptable Birds 33 Living with Kiwi 33 Long-Term Protection 33 7 Kiwi and Forestry Kiwi-Friendly Forestry 35 Other Things You Can Do 37 Find Out More 37 8 Starting a Kiwi Protection Project in Your Community Co-operative Efforts 39 The First Thing 40 Funding 40 Other Resources 41 Find Out More 41 9 Resources to Save Kiwi 42 3 Photo: Department of Conservation CHAPTER 1 About Kiwi It wasn’t so long ago that we realised kiwi were in trouble. Big trouble. Mainland populations were halving every 15-20 years. While many of us took it for granted that our quirky fl ightless national bird would always be around, in the early 1990s researchers and scientists discovered that kiwi were dying out on the mainland, disappearing from places where they had once been common. 4 CHAPTER 1 : About Kiwi The main cause of declining kiwi thousands of people around the country populations is predators – especially are working hard to help save kiwi. stoats and dogs. Stoats are particularly We are learning more all the time, and devastating for young chicks, while improving what we do to make our efforts dogs kill adult birds. more effective. Since the spotlight went onto kiwi, we The difference we are making – iwi, have learned a great deal about them, community volunteers, scientists, including that ensuring their survival researchers, Department of Conservation on the mainland was too big a job for fi eld workers – proves we can make the Department of Conservation on its a huge positive contribution to the on. New Zealanders rallied, and today kiwi’s future. Community Efforts More than 80 community-based kiwi The Trust, a partnership between BNZ, groups operate around the country, the Department of Conservation and with volunteers protecting more than Forest and Bird, also puts a lot of energy 60,000 hectares of kiwi land. into advocating for kiwi. A big emphasis is on encouraging dog owners to keep their They kill kiwi predators, raise awareness pets in check so that they don’t kill kiwi. about kiwi’s plight, and work with district and regional councils and other agencies. The backbone for community efforts is the BNZ Save the Kiwi Trust, which provides funding, resources, and access to expertise and advice, including this booklet and the DVD that make up the “How to Save Kiwi” kit. Many community-led projects receive fi nancial support from the Trust. Photo: Moana Bianchin This booklet and the DVD are a good place to begin if you want to learn more about how you can help. More information is also available on the BNZ Save the Kiwi website – www.savethekiwi.org.nz 5 Five Species Whangarei Taranga/Hen Is Five species of kiwi are recognised, and Whakau/Red Mercury Is each is threatened. Moehau They are the brown kiwi (which has four Tiritiri Matangi Is forms), little spotted kiwi, great spotted Motuihe Is kiwi, rowi and tokoeka (which also has four forms). Tongariro Five kiwi sanctuaries are managed by the Department of Conservation to protect Kapiti Is different species or special populations. Long Is The three North Island sanctuaries protect brown kiwi and are at Whangarei, Moehau and Tongariro. Karori Wildlife Sanctuary The two South Island sanctuaries protect the Okarito two rarest kiwi. Rowi are in the Okarito Haast sanctuary, while Brown Kiwi Haast tokoeka Great Spotted Kiwi are in the Haast Little Spotted Kiwi sanctuary. Rowi Tokoeka Kiwi Sanctuaries Chalky Is A Versatile Bird Kiwi are versatile birds. Some live on the coast, digging in sand; some live among snowy tussock high in the mountains; while others live in the many spaces that lie between – forest, scrub, rough farmland, swamps and even pine forests. Colbourne - DOC Photo: Rogan All the birds really need is a good supply berries – and a place to nest and shelter – of the food they like to eat – grubs, a burrow, hollow log, under a rock or in a crickets, snails, worms, spiders, fruit and clump of vegetation. 6 CHAPTER 1 : About Kiwi A Biological Oddity One thing that makes kiwi so special is their biology, which is very different to most birds. Photo: Department of Conservation For example, the kiwi’s powerful muscular legs are heavy and marrow-fi lled, like a Kiwi are the only birds with mammal’s, and make up a third of the nostrils at the end of their beak bird’s weight. Most bird skeletons are light and fi lled with air sacs to enable fl ight. The huge yolk and long incubation allow Unlike other birds, a kiwi’s nostrils are at the chick to emerge as a mini adult, fully the end of its beak, like a human nose. feathered and able to feed itself – which is And like us, its eye sockets are divided very unusual for a bird. by large nasal cavities – in most birds, eye sockets are separated by a plate. A kiwi’s plumage is shaggy and hair-like, Kiwi eyes are quite small and its eyesight and it has cat-like whiskers on its face and is not particularly good, but its big ears around the base of its beak. These tactile and large scent organ help it navigate the super-sensitive way-fi nding whiskers night forest. probably evolved to help the bird feel its way through the dark. A female kiwi produces a large egg, which weighs 15-20% of her body weight and Find out more about what makes kiwi so is six times bigger than for most birds of different and special at: her size. www.savethekiwi.org.nz The Threats Kiwi Face The kiwi’s troubles begin in its burrow. About half of all eggs laid don’t even hatch – either due to natural bacteria, or because the egg is disturbed. Even if a chick does emerge, 70% never Of the 10% of wild chicks that do make reach six months – most are killed by stoats, it to six months of age, only half achieve or sometimes cats. Another 20% die from adulthood. natural causes or other predators. That means just 5% of all hatched chicks become adults. And even then they are A kiwi egg is large relative not safe. to the size of the female Dogs and ferrets can kill adult birds. That’s why the work of BNZ Save the Kiwi Trust, with your support, is so important. Photo: Department of Conservation 7 Stoat in Fenn trap (under plastic tunnel) Photo: Wendy Sporle Photo: Wendy Predator Control CHAPTER 2 & Monitoring Land clearance used to be the biggest threat for kiwi and other native birds. Today, predators are the worst problem, and controlling them is the most important thing we can do to help save kiwi. 8 CHAPTER 2 : Predator Control & Monitoring The Threats The biggest threat to kiwi chicks comes from stoats and cats, while dogs and ferrets are particularly hard on adult birds, which means we lose breeding populations. Other introduced animals are also hard on kiwi. Possums kill both chicks and adult birds, destroy eggs and steal kiwi burrows to live in themselves. Pigs destroy eggs and can kill adult kiwi. While hedgehogs, rodents and weasels don’t kill kiwi, they do cause other problems. They compete for the same food, and are preyed on by the same predators that attack kiwi, helping to keep stoat and cat numbers high. First Things First Before you begin killing kiwi predators, You can fi nd guidelines and advice it’s important to learn about these on www.savethekiwi.org.nz, in the animals and the law of unintended ‘Resources to Save Kiwi’. section consequences. It’s also good to target predator control to For example, if you remove just rats, the times of year when the pest animals what will the stoats eat? If you take out can have the worst effect on kiwi. stoats, what will happen to rabbit and mice numbers? There are best practice guidelines and experienced trappers available to help you work out the right programme and avoid any hidden negative ripples. Kiwi with signs of stoat predation bites on the neck Photo: Wendy Sporle Photo: Wendy Photo: Dr Shaun Ogilvie, Lincoln University For example, with stoats, that is when the young leave their dens, from October/November through to March. This coincides with when kiwi chicks weigh less than 1 kilogram and are at Possum beside a philproof bait station their most vulnerable. 9 Types of Control Stoats There are many different types Stoats are one of three mustelid of trap, and new ones are being species introduced to New Zealand developed all the time.