Tiny Kiwi Chick Named

Rainbow Springs’ tiny kiwi chick has a name, Myfie.

Myfie

Maggie Willis successfully bid on Trademe to name the wee chick and recently visited Myfie at Rainbow Springs. “I just loved the little chick, with her beady black eyes, and I was amazed at how big and strong her feet were compared to her little body.”

Maggie named the chick after her mum who passed away recently. “Mum only weighed 28kgs – just a tiny bird herself, and my husband Mark suggested that I bid for the kiwi hatched from the smallest egg and if I was successful we would call it “Myfie” after mum.

“So as I was lucky enough to win the bid, it’s a legacy to my dear mum who adored native birds too. Mum at 97-years-old was a tough bird she got through her life without illness and I hope that “Myfie” will too be a tough little bird and survive in wild and be a mum too.”

Maggie is an avid native bird fan herself and has established a Native Bird Trust to help protect the birds’ environment and is also aiming to buy some land to set up as a reserve for native birds.

Myfie weighed a tiny 173.5 grams when he/she hatched, and just over a week ago left the brooder room to an outdoor enclosure at Rainbow Springs where her growth and health are being monitored regularly.

The chick will spend the next few months in this lovely pen full of ferns, the ground is alive with insects hiding under leaf litter and in the ground, so she’ll have a lot of fun foraging around for live food.

During the day the pens are filled with song of the Tui, Bellbirds, Grey Warblers, and Fantails, so she has lots of caregivers during the day, and during the night the Ruru calls his call along with other Kiwi.

Myfie was super inquisitive when she was transferred outside but quickly scurried into the darkness and coziness of her new home and has settled well.

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