Sometimes kiwis can fly
Air force operation helps rehome native birds
It’s not often you see a kiwi fly, but thanks to the Royal New Zealand Air Force, 20 eastern brown kiwi got the opportunity to take flight when they were transferred from Hawke’s Bay’s Cape Sanctuary.
A collaboration between Save the Kiwi and the RNZAF last Friday saw the flightless birds carefully transported from the sanctuary to their new home deep in the heart of the Northern Ruahine Range.
“You don’t get to fly this kind of cargo every day,” Air Component Commander Air Commodore Andy Scott said.
Scott described the collaboration as a unique privilege, saying it was humbling to help relocate the taonga (treasure).
“When Save the Kiwi asked the RNZAF to help transport these kiwi into the Ruahine Range, we jumped at the chance.
“The kiwi is the country’s national icon — we literally have the symbol of the kiwi on the side of our aircraft — so it was a privilege to help the repopulation of this special species in the best way we know how: flying.”
Over 100 breeding pairs of kiwi live at Cape Sanctuary, located at Cape Kidnappers in Hawke’s Bay. They have produced an estimated 500-600 juveniles and chicks that call Cape Sanctuary home.
Areas in the wild are first made kiwi-safe through predator control. Cape Sanctuary works with mana whenua to identify suitable locations for kiwi to be translocated to.
Save the Kiwi CEO Michelle Impey said the RNZAF’s and other organisations’ involvement in the project proved how teamwork can create successful conservation outcomes.
“If we want to make a real difference to biodiversity, we all need to work together,” she said.
“It took a huge amount of collaboration to get to this release day, from the tireless mahi carried out at Cape Sanctuary to create a habitat where kiwi can thrive, through to volunteers working in the Ruahine to create a safe place for future kiwi.”
Cape Sanctuary cofounder Liz Lowe agreed and said they were proud of the work that had been done at the sanctuary.
“Together with local hapū Ngāti Mihiroa and our partners Save the Kiwi and the Department of Conservation, we are incredibly proud to have reached a level with our kiwi population where we can send them out to supplement other eastern brown kiwi populations.”
Save the Kiwi said 25 of the kiwi conservation groups they fund had grown the North Island brown kiwi population by 7000 birds between 2019 and 2023.
“The success seen at Cape Sanctuary proves once again the value of a kōhanga as a source site of kiwi that can quickly repopulate suitable wild sites,” Impey said.
“We hope today’s release will open doors for other receiving sites who have done the necessary mahi to return kiwi to their rohe too.”