Reconising The New Zealand Kiwi

The three easiest methods of discovering if there are Kiwi in your area is by finding their burrows, seeing their tracks, or by hearing their calls.

Kiwi Calls
The easiest way to discover if there are Kiwis in your area is to listen for them on a still night. During the night, as they are out foraging for food or patrolling their territory, they will perform duets, calling to each other. The female has a lower hoarser call than the male, although it is the males call that can be heard and identified the easiest. The call of the female morepork is often mistaken for that of the male kiwi because the sound is very similar. The difference is that the Kiwi will repeat its call at least 10 times, so when you hear a call that sounds like a male Kiwi just count them and you will know if you have Kiwi in your area.

Click on button to hear Kiwi call

Kiwi Burrows
Another way of finding if you have Kiwi neighbours is to look for their burrows. These are found in banks and in roots under trees, often the fresh dirt gives them away, although a Kiwi will spread the dirt over a large area in an attempt to hide the nest

A Kiwi Burrow

Kiwi Tracks
The Kiwi footprint is another way to find Kiwi. If you look in soft dirt or clay you can quite often see the footprint which is different than most bush dwelling birds, because they are quite large and deep. A careful look in the area of the footprints will usually show holes in the ground where the Kiwis beak has been probing for food.

A Kiwi Footprint And Probe Holes

For those people who arent lucky enough to be able to see a Kiwi in the wild, here is a list of places where you can see them in captivity.

In New Zealand

Kaitaia Nocturnal Park, Kaitaia
Auckland Zoo, Auckland
Rainbow and Fairy Springs, Rotorua
Napier Kiwi House, Napier
Nga Manu Trust, Waikanae
Moana, West Coast
Willowbank Wildlife Reserve, Christchurch

Northland Regional Museum, Whangarei
Otorohanga Kiwi House, Otorohanga
NZ Maori Arts and Crafts Institute, Rotorua
Mount Bruce National Wildlife Centre, Wairarapa
Wellington Zoo, Wellington
Orana Park, Christchurch
Kiwi and Birdlife Park, Queenstown

Overseas

Taronga Park Zoo, Sydney, Australia
Osaka Municipal Tennoji Zoo, Japan
Rotterdam Zoo, Netherlands
Frankfurt Zoo, Germany
San Diego Zoo, California, USA
Chicago Zoological Park, Brookfield, USA

Jurong Bird Park, Singapore
Antwerp Zoo, Belgium
Zoologischer Garten Berlin, Germany
Los Angeles Zoo, California, USA
National Zoological Park, Washington DC, USA

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