Kiwi hatching season closes with late arrival

CHICK: The latest arrival, Ngahuru (Autumn), from Mangatawhiri, which hatched last week. SUPPLIED

Concerned that a late season kiwi egg may be abandoned by its father, a local Department of Conservation kiwi ranger has delivered it to Rainbow Spring's Kiwi Encounter for hatching.

The ranger was changing a transmitter on a male kiwi in the Tongariro forest last week and was surprised to find a kiwi egg. Worried that if left in the wild the male kiwi may not return to the nest she decided to take the egg to Kiwi Encounter for incubation and hatching.

"Sometimes when a kiwi is scared it won't return to incubate the egg, so the best option in this instance was to bring the egg to Kiwi Encounter to hatch," said Kiwi Encounter Husbandry Manager Claire Travers.

The egg is estimated to be at 40 days of development and should hatch in five weeks.

Dad's name is Max and this is his 33rd egg. The chick will be released back to its natural habitat once it reaches a healthy 1kg in weight and has a better chance of surviving in the wild.

The 2014/15 kiwi hatching season has been quite long, beginning on 5 September, with this latest arrival possibly stretching the close of the season out to June.

"As always its been a very rewarding season, the Kiwi Encounter team never tires from nurturing these precious birds and helping ensure that they have a strong start in life so they can survive in the wild," Ms Travers said.

Rainbow Springs' highlights of the season include:

Kindara the ginger kiwi

Cranky the kiwi (named after the New Zealand leg of the Crankworx mountain biking world tour held in Rotorua)

Whisker who miraculously survived being run over by a digger

Warkworth primary school fundraising and sponsoring their own kiwi Cuddles

Travel company AAT Kings sponsoring a kiwi called Kiwi-Sam

Kiwi Experience travel group, who this year sponsored three chicks, including naming the 100th kiwi chick of the season Leslie

Local backpacker hostel Funky Green Voyager (FGV), who have sponsored kiwi chicks for the last six years, naming a kiwi chick Suess, which means Sweet in German

Kiwi Encounter hatched a total of 107 eggs this season, with another two still in incubation and one due to hatch any day. A further three captive breeding eggs were also hatched during the season.