Northland dairy farmer Jane Hutchings is one busy woman, but she can always find time to talk about one of her passions - the brown kiwi.
Jane and her husband Roger milk 700 cows on their 480-ha property in Northland.
They obviously love their lifestyle but, in 2009, during a drought, the kiwi they knew existed on their property finally made an appearance - and this had a wonderful impact on them.
Lack of water and food brought the kiwi out at night from the safety of the bush, to graze on farm pasture in the hunt for worms, insects and water.
This started a journey that has grown in size and increased the number of brown kiwi and is still going strong today.
The couple wants to have thriving kiwi roaming freely throughout Northland and, every year, with the help of neighbours and various organisations, such as Northland Regional Council, Puketotara Landcare, Kiwi Coast and the Department of Conservation, they are seeing the kiwi numbers grow in size.
Over the past 10 years, 708,536 pests have been trapped by Kiwi Coast groups and in projects throughout the Northland region.
“Stoats are by far the worst pest killing up to 95per cent of kiwi chicks before they reach their first birthday,” Hutchings said.
“They are such prolific breeders. They need to be eradicated before the breeding season.”
The other predator that plagues kiwi is the household dog.
Don’t think aversion training will stop dogs from destroying kiwi - owners really need to know more about how man’s best friend ticks.
Kiwi Coast runs free dog workshops on how to keep both kiwi and dogs safe. The timetable for dog classes can be found at kiwicoast.org.nz.
Farm signs warn of the presence of kiwi.
To keep track of the growing numbers of kiwi, Kiwi Coast groups take part in DoC’s Northland kiwi call count survey which is carried out in early every winter.
For four nights in a row, usually from 6pm-8pm, participating groups get themselves comfortable and listen for kiwi to call their mates.
Usually, each bird makes 20 calls in succession.
After four days, all the reporting is compiled, just like a census, and this gives an approximate result on the number of females and males in that particular area.
“I am always happy when the four pairs that live in our gully give their calls,” Hutchings said.
Male and female kiwi have distinctive calls so they are easy to differentiate.
While some members of the group involved are happy to check their own traps, some busy farmers who have cows to milk will happily pay for a trapper to check their traps for them.
A kiwi caught on camera.
All the hard work has paid off for the Hutchings, with more kiwi roaming their land, regrowth happening in their bush and seedlings now surviving.
There has been a marked increase in birdlife with more kererū (or kūkupa in Northland) and weka making an appearance.
“We know how lucky we are having these beautiful kiwi roaming our land,” Hutchings said.
“You never get tired of that beautiful distinctive call on a moonlit night.”
