Kiwi monitoring begins in Tongariro Forest

Ruapehu Bulletin, Volume 12, Issue 541, 21 June 1994, Page 12

Kiwi monitoring begins in Tongariro Forest

Annual monitoring of kiwi in Tongariro Forest began recently. Despite below freezing temperatures Department of Conservation staff from the Tongariro Taupo conservancy were out every night listening for kiwi calls. Five listening stations have been identified and DoC staff hope to cover 50 hours of listening over the next few nights. Early winter i s the peak mati ng season for ki wi and the best time for surveys is during the waning moon cycle. In the first night staff recorded 1 7 different birds which gave a total of 30 calls. Cam Speedy, senior conservation officer responsible for protected species, said this is a fairly typical call rate for North Island Brown Kiwi. Mr Speedy said the number of birds heard compares dramatically with stories logging crews earlier this century who claimed to have been kept awake at night by the number of noisy kiwi calling. Loss of habitat and predation are among the reasons for kiwi numbers declining. In a two-year study of ki wi in T ongariro Forest Johnathon Miles of Massey University suggested that predation is the main reason why kiwi are not breeding successfully. Until recently very little was known about kiwi. Three years ago, the BNZ, DoC and Royal Forest and Bird Protection Society began a five-year Kiwi Recovery Programme. The first two years concentrated on research and gathering data on kiwi. The work being presently carried out in Tongariro Forest is particularly important now that the Kiwi Recovery Programme is in its management and action phase.