sv evi

The New Zealand national bird is a kiwi, and New Zealanders themselves are also called kiwis. You see road signs here that say “Be a tidy kiwi, keep it in the car”. Our kids learnt about native birds in school, and started drawing kiwis within our first month in NZ. I never thought we would see one in the wild because 1. they are nocturnal 2. they are shy 3. there aren’t that many of them

I was delighted to hear that our friends on SV Walrus and SV Due South had a plan to go kiwi hunting when we arrived to Motukawanui Island two days ago in the Cavalli Islands. Kiwi hunting meaning walking at night in hopes of seeing a kiwi in the wild. I instantly called Hilton & Melva to ask what the kiwi calls sound like. Our kids were excited too — “what clothes should I wear for kiwi hunting?” We took the dinghy to shore at 9 pm and beached it in the dark. I was doubtful we would see a kiwi with our group of 6 adults and 5 kids. We started walking up the track, and Riki, Luz and I were bringing up the rear, a ways behind the others.

We had our headlamps on red light, and were walking slowly and whispering. Then I saw an impossibly long beak. Could it be? I saw a big bird connected to the beak — much bigger than I had expected, about the size of a chicken. The kiwi moved a bit further away, and Riki shined his brighter light on it. We watched it pecking the ground for a while. It was magical and thrilling! Then Tomu came back down the trail to check on us, and he scared the kiwi. The kiwi started running towards us, then turned around and ran past Tomu and away. Wow!

Hilton (who is in his 70’s, a kiwi, and an avid birder) told us that he had only seen a wild kiwi three times in his life, and most people have never seen one, so that we were very lucky. We didn’t take any photos, but here is one from the bird book.

We also saw a blue penguin swimming while underway 2 days ago, and a bronze whaler shark doing circles in the anchorage at Motukawanui, and a baby hammerhead shark as we came into where we are currently anchored, in Waitepipi Bay near Whangaroa.