Two Napier visitor centre staff recently spent part of their weekend in the company of a very special bird.
Jane Libby, i-Site manager, and Marion Joe, information and travel consultant, accompanied Environment, Conservation and Outdoor Education Trust (ECOED) volunteers and the trust's general manager Kahori Nakagawa on a scheduled kiwi release at Makahu Saddle in the Kaweka Forest Park.
The invitation to be part of the release of two kiwi chicks came about because the i-Site collected donations to go towards ECOED's Save Our Kiwi Hawke's Bay programme during its annual i-SPY Fun Challenge in June — $900 in total. The i-Site and Par2 MiniGolf now have collection boxes for the charity permanently installed at their receptions.
ECOED runs a kiwi creche at Opouahi Scenic Reserve, near Tutira, for kiwi chicks. The chicks are then released into the wild once they reach between 900g and 1kg in weight. This is thought to be the minimum size at which kiwi have a fighting chance of fending off predators, such as stoats.
In recognition of the special partnership between the i-Site and ECOED, Libby and Joe were asked to name one of the chicks. They chose Mohiohio, Maori for information.
Helping to raise awareness of this charity and its important environmental work is rewarding, says Libby.