Focus on kiwi for school conservation group

3 Oct, 2022

This term the focus of the Mangawhai Beach School Conservation Group work has been on kiwi.

A definite highlight for the group was a night walk in the bush at Marunui. The session was led by Jackie Fanning and Matu Booth. The group met at the Tanekaha Track and were taken on a walk into Marunui. Jackie had put a tracking device on ‘Buddy’, a life-sized kiwi toy. She used all the technology that would be used to find a kiwi in the bush, and it worked. Using their ears, the students were able to track Buddy to his hiding spot. Of course, any kiwi that could be tracked like this would have to be one that had been caught, banded, and had a transmitter fitted. Earlier in the term the students had been able to examine leg bands closely as there were plenty to pass around in the Kiwi Resource box provided by the Department of Conservation.

The students later got a chance to watch an incredible story recorded by a camera located near a burrow thought to be a kiwi burrow. It was something no one had discovered before – the kiwi was competing for burrow space with a rabbit. The ‘ooh’ and ‘aah’ sounds the students gave as each part of the contest for space unfolded showed how engrossed they were during this session. They then got a chance to sit in the dark and listen for kiwi calls.