Happy new beginnings at Pukaha Mount Bruce

MB72, a North Island Brown Kiwi, hatched at 4.23pm on Wednesday 8 January to the delight of both visitors and staff Our visitors were able to watch the kiwi fight its way out of the egg and then be transferred into a warm brooder box.  For all those present, it was a very magic moment.

This chick is the sixty-first North Island Brown kiwi to be hatched from eggs brought into the nursery from the Pukaha forest since 2010 following the translocation of 30 kiwi to the reserve from Little Barrier Island.  The most talked about of these chicks, Manukura the little white kiwi, looks like having another sibling or two this year as well!

Manukura’s father has been incubating two eggs this year and if these eggs are a result of a mating with Manukura’s mother there’s a 1 in 4 chance of another white kiwi. The hatching of any kiwi chick, brown or white, is a very special thing but we’ll be watching these eggs closely when they do start to hatch to see if there is a hint of white. We all love something a little out of the ordinary!

13 kiwi chicks have hatched in our nursery since January 2013 and there are currently seven kiwi eggs in the nursery.

17 kiwi were returned to the Pukaha Mount Bruce forest in 2013, including our second white kiwi, Mauriora, in October.

Thanks for your continued support and we look forward to seeing you soon!

Helen Tickner

General Manager

ENDS

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