The nosy kiwi had a good look around the kitchen. Photo / Richard Walle, Dr Leigh Joyce
The nosy kiwi had a good look around the kitchen. Photo / Richard Walle, Dr Leigh Joyce
A young kiwi showed complete disregard for social distancing rules as it burst a bubble and made himself at home at this Little Barrier Island house.
The incredible footage was captured by resident rangers Richard Walle and Dr Leigh Joyce, showing the teenage kiwi having a nosy around their homeduring lockdown.
"Communication channels can be pretty hit and miss on Te Hauturu-o-Toi/Little Barrier Island Nature Reserve and someone clearly didn't pass the memo on to this kiwi that social distancing be applied between Kiwis not in your 'bubble'," the Department of Conservation (DOC) posted on Facebook.
"The rangers did not want to stress the bird by attempting to catch it, so they quietly stood by and watched to see what it would do next.
The nosy kiwi had a good look around the kitchen. Photo / Richard Walle, Dr Leigh Joyce
"The kiwi casually made its way through the dining room and kitchen, before slowly heading out the kitchen door, down the ramp, and back into the forest."
"For resident rangers, Richard Walle, ecologist Dr Leigh Joyce, and their two children, Mahina and Liam (not forgetting ranger Chippy Wood!) lockdown doesn't look that much different to most days on their island sanctuary," DOC wrote in a blog post.
"It's also the norm for them to be surrounded by some of New Zealand's most endangered species … tuatara are commonplace in the vege patch, and rowdy kōrora that nest under the bunkhouse frequently wake up visitors in the middle of the night. But even they were surprised when they heard a polite 'tap, tap, tap' at the glass kitchen door, and a young kiwi peering in."
"It was overcast and drizzling and the kiwi had walked upstairs using the external wooden ramp from the garden below, past the pond. It then proceeded to walk around the house on the upstairs wooden deck, gently probing with its bill. That bill found a void in the open ranch-slider door and this adventurous kiwi crossed the threshold."
Knock, knock! Photo / Richard Walle, Dr Leigh Joyce
DOC says the bird did not keep a two-metre distance: "The kiwi casually made its way through the dining room and kitchen, before slowly heading out the kitchen door, down the ramp, and back into the forest … but not before it had passed within centimetres of the rangers' feet, breaking the 2-metre social distancing rules required to reduce the spread of Covid-19. We'll give it the benefit of the doubt!"
Kiwi are usually nocturnal but it seems they are getting out and about during daytime lately as well.
The rangers had also recently seen kiwi drinking from their garden pond.
A day later, they found the kiwi in their garden dining on a centipede.
They observed the bird and concluded he was neither distressed nor dehydrated, just curious.
