{"id":106381,"date":"2025-10-29T03:41:08","date_gmt":"2025-10-29T03:41:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/106381\/"},"modified":"2025-10-29T03:41:08","modified_gmt":"2025-10-29T03:41:08","slug":"first-kiwi-chick-born-on-waiheke-island-in-major-conservation-milestone","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/106381\/","title":{"rendered":"First kiwi chick born on Waiheke Island in major conservation milestone"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201cWe\u2019re absolutely stoked. This is a huge milestone for the kiwi released earlier this year, and we\u2019ll be monitoring the chicks through trail cameras.\u201d<\/p>\n

The parents of this chick were already a pair when they were brought to the island and began nesting in late July. Waiheke<\/a> landowners, volunteers, and Save the Kiwi have been monitoring their progress since then.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re hopeful this one will make it to adulthood, but we always remember that kiwi survival isn\u2019t 100%, and losing some individuals is part of the reality of growing a wild kiwi population.\u201d<\/p>\n

Craig said one of the best ways to ensure that this chick and future chicks will survive is to continue the ongoing stoat trapping conducted across the whole island.<\/p>\n

\"KiwiKiwi are carried ashore at Blackpool Beach, Te Motu-\u0101rai-roa Waiheke Island, after they arrived by barge from neighbouring Ponui Island. Photo \/ Sylvie Whinray <\/p>\n

The birds live in the Te Matuku Peninsula at the eastern end of Waiheke Island.<\/p>\n

Te Matuku Peninsula is remote and cannot be publicly accessed, and the land surrounding the peninsula is extensively predator-managed<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Save The Kiwi says the transmitter of the male kiwi indicates he is still incubating, so they may see another chick in the coming days. After this next egg hatches, the pair may nest again this season.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere are four kiwi pairs being monitored, and there is another nest we currently know about, so chicks from other kiwi are expected over the breeding season,\u201d a Save The Kiwi spokesperson said.<\/p>\n

Waiheke is the first urban area in Auckland where kiwi live, following the release in May.<\/p>\n

\"KiwiKiwi trainer Will Kahu carries a kiwi to a new home on Waiheke Island in May. Photo \/ Sylvie Whinray <\/p>\n

Ng\u0101ti P\u0101oa chairwoman Herearoha Skipper says the local iwi are excited by the news.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are delighted to announce the birth of the first kiwi chick on Waiheke Island.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is a great sign for us that the hopes and aspirations of the community and the tribes for the kiwi colony to grow on the island of Te \u0100rai Roa have\u202fbeen\u202frealised.\u201d<\/p>\n

Skipper said Te Korowai o Waiheke and other predator-control projects have worked tirelessly over many decades to remove predators from the island, \u201ccreating a space where kiwi and other native wildlife can thrive\u201d.<\/p>\n

Waiheke-based community conservation project Te Korowai o Waiheke has deployed around 1750 stoat traps around the island, leading to a 76% increase in native birds since 2020.<\/p>\n

\"KiwiKiwi are carried ashore at Blackpool Beach, Te Motu-\u0101rai-roa Waiheke Island, after they arrived by barge from neighbouring P\u014dnui Island. Photo \/ Sylvie Whinray <\/p>\n

The hope is that as kiwis start to naturally migrate, they will eventually establish an island-wide population.<\/p>\n

The original 10 kiwis were transferred from neighbouring P\u014dnui Island<\/a> and first welcomed to Waiheke with a p\u014dwhiri at Piritahi Marae at the time.<\/p>\n

More adult kiwi will also be translocated from P\u014dnui Island to Waiheke in early 2026.<\/p>\n

The project to bring kiwi to Waiheke has taken two years, fulfilling a 20-year dream for local environmentalists.<\/p>\n

Jaime Lyth is a multimedia journalist for the New Zealand Herald, focusing on crime and breaking news. Lyth began working under the NZ Herald masthead in 2021 as a reporter for the Northern Advocate in Whang\u0101rei.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\u201cWe\u2019re absolutely stoked. This is a huge milestone for the kiwi released earlier this year, and we\u2019ll be…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":106382,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[26],"tags":[74,19976,27703,61693,1389,3989,1888,1342,76704,78,2514,194,661,3259,3234,111,139,69,90,2847,13181,147,70252,3608,406],"class_list":["post-106381","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-wildlife","tag-after","tag-birds","tag-born","tag-chick","tag-conservation","tag-effort","tag-first","tag-five","tag-hatched","tag-in","tag-island","tag-kiwi","tag-major","tag-milestone","tag-months","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-on","tag-only","tag-released","tag-science","tag-waiheke","tag-were","tag-wildlife"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/106381","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=106381"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/106381\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/106382"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=106381"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=106381"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=106381"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}