Kiwi-Pukapuka Relocate

Little Spotted Kiwi, the second rarest kiwi species, have been reintroduced onto Fiordland’s Chalky Island for the first time in a century. Sponsors of the transfer, South Island tour operators Real Journeys, joined iwi and Department of Conservation staff to move the first of 40 birds from Kapiti Island to the predator-free island. In 1900 Richard Henry who was caretaker of Resolution Island – the world’s first island sanctuary for birds – predicted: “I think that the brown kiwi and kakapo will be too strong for the weasels, but the Little Spotted Kiwis will soon go”. With the transfer in August, DOC biodiversity programme manager Murray Williams said once established on Chalky Island, the population of kiwi may be used as a source for transfers to other predator-free islands throughout Fiordland. The kiwi join other reintroduced species, including Mohua, Saddleback and Orange-fronted Parakeets.