Kiwi North's new residents settle into nocturnal home

Otorohanga Kiwi House and Native Bird Park staff member Katey Davison puts Ben into his travel box to take him to his new home at Kiwi North.

One of Kiwi North's new residents is already feeling so at home he's started doing renovations.

Kiwi North, at Maunu, in Whangarei, last week received two new residents for its nocturnal kiwi enclosure - Jockalene and Ben who will both turn one in October.

The two newbies replaced male kiwi Kapua and female Puna who arrived in 2015, then aged 3 and 5 months respectively, but are now ready to start breeding.

Jockalene and Ben arrived late last Monday and were put into their new burrows in Kiwi North's nocturnal enclosure.

Kiwi North operations director Allie Fry said both native birds had settled in well, but Ben particularly had taken to his new burrow and had already started digging it deeper to make it bigger. This has also taken him - temporarily - out of view of the cameras inside the burrow.

"He's doing some renovations and has dug himself a basement," Ms Fry said.

"They are both eating well and our main thing now is to ensure they are a comfortable as possible and keep eating."

While Jockalene is still a bit shy and sticking largely inside her burrow, Ben has been out into the nocturnal enclosure exploring his new domain.

Ms Fry said a group of visitors saw him on Thursday and were amazed to be the first group to see him in his new habitat.

"Their reaction was that he is really cute and they thought it was really cool to be the first to see him."

Kapua will be released with other Western brown kiwi to a Taranaki sanctuary while Puna has a male lined up to start getting cosy with at Nga Manu Nature Reserve in Waikanae.

Jockalene and Ben will both turn 1 in October, but are not from the same stock.

Ms Fry said they had been together for a while in a nocturnal enclosure before coming to Kiwi North from Otorohanga Kiwi House and Native Bird Park.

"With the very natural conditions of the Kiwi North nocturnal house and our hands-off husbandry practices, we are confident Kapua will adapt very quickly to his new outdoor environment. Hopefully they will both go on to breed and aid the survival of their species," Ms Fry said of Kapua and Puna.