Happening at Kiwi Encounter....
15 March 2009
Niggle has had Triplets Again! Niggle is a breeding male from the Waimarino area. He produced three eggs in a single clutch last season (usually there's only one or two in a single clutch), and he's done it again this season! We are still waiting on genetic results from last season's triplets to see if they are all related (our theory at the moment is that Niggle may have two girlfriends), but one thing all the eggs have in common is that they all have the air cells at the wrong end of the egg (also very unusual).
Who was our 100th Chick of this Season? Mahia! The name for our 100th chick was decided as part of an online competition on Facebook and means 'action' in Maori. Mahia hatched VERY fast in our Incubation room, before we even managed to move the egg into our Hatch room. While Mahia was all action at hatch time, he's turned out to be a very laid-back kiwi. He hatched on Feb 2nd and weighed 383.7g. Want to follow us on Facebook? Click here.
Rainbow Springs Local's Weekend. If you're a Rotorua Local, Call in to Rainbow Springs this weekend (20 & 21 March) and join in the fun of Local's Weekend. It's a gold coin donation for entry into Rainbow Springs, and all the funds raised will be going to Kiwi Encounter. Click here for details about Local's Weekend or go to www.rainbowsprings.co.nz
What's a Pingu? If you've been on a Kiwi Encounter tour you may have heard our guides talking about kiwi chicks doing a 'pingu'. This is a word we use here at Kiwi Encounter for when a kiwi chick is swallowing (they sit upright and tuck their head under, just like a penguin). The name is taken from a popular children's cartoon.
Boston John is Here! John Rancatore is our latest volunteer at Kiwi Encounter. Predictably from the title, John is from Boston, USA, and is all of 19 years old. We already have a John on staff, this John had the 'Boston' added so we knew which was which! He'll be here for around a month, as part of Kiwi Internships. If you'd like to know more about this, check out their website - www.kiwi-internships.com
11 November 2009
Busy week this week - a lot of the conservancies we deal with are choosing to creche their birds and this week we have two birds going out today, one bird going out tomorrow and EIGHT chicks going out on Friday. The eight birds going out on Friday will be released straight from our brooder room to a predator controlled area called Maungataniwha.
Billie & Artha have just become proud parents (again) - the 4th egg from our newest breeding pair hatched this morning! The little chick is doing well and we are deciding on names at the moment.
Little Mo has had a new boyfriend arrive (Mamaku from the South Island). We will be introducing them shortly. If the pair get along, they'll be our third captive breeding pair. Little Mo was off her food a few weeks ago and after an xray revealed a belly full of crop stones she will be having a rest before meeting a new mate! She is on a course of Metamucil to help her ''pass'' the stones and once she is back to normal the team will begin to introduce the two (slowly, as we never really know how this sort of thing will go and female birds have been known to kill male birds).
5 November 2009
We've hatched 54 chicks so far this season, with 26 chicks in the Brooder Room, one chick and two eggs in the Hatch Room and 18 eggs currently in the Incubation Room. Phew!
Whakama the Kiwi
This is one of the little kiwi chicks in our brooder room at the moment and is doing extremely well. Whakama comes from the Waimarino region and his (or her) name means 'shy'. This bird is not anything like his name and the team have been amazed at his extremely aggressive nature. Scratching, hissing and fighting from the moment he arrived, the team think the contradiction of his name is ironic - this is definitely a kiwi that will do well out in the wild!
Lynmore Primary School Helping Save the Kiwi
All junior classes from Lynmore Primary School came through the park in September. They walked through Rainbow Springs and spoke to our husbandry team as part of a ''meet the kiwi keeper''. One lucky group got to see a bird being dosed and they were INCREDIBLY quiet while watching (this is fantastic considering there were over 40 five year olds in the room!). After the last school holidays, two classes got together and decided they would like to raise money for our kiwi. With selling popcorn, cookies and making cards both classes raised over $450.00. They sponsored 7 kiwi chicks and all received an exclusive ''I helped save a kiwi badge'' to wear around the school.
Chick 750 Arrives at Kiwi Encounter!
All the Kiwi Encounter and Rainbow Springs staff were thrilled at the arrival of the 750th kiwi chick (since we started raising kiwi for release in 1995) on Thursday 15th of October at 3.40pm. The event was very dramatic with the chick hatching with an external umbilicus, meaning that it hadn't absorbed its yolk sac fully through its navel. The chick is very healthy now though and weighing in at 399.9 grams.
Moving House
Ti, one of our display kiwi at Kiwi Encounter is off to a new home - not far away though. He's been settled in just across the carpark at Rainbow Springs in the Outdoor Kiwi Exhibit where he is eating well, calling and experiencing rain for the first time in his 3 years! Ti's exhibit is open every evening from dusk and visitors are welcome to walk inside the enclosure and view the four kiwi over a small wall.
Purere (meaning 'escape' and was named by Escape Rentals - check them out at www.escaperentals.co.nz) will be taking Ti's old spot in the Kiwi Encounter Nocturnal House.
New Way to Help Kiwi
With the generous help of Blue Star Print Group and Photoarts, we have been able to produce a full colour 2010 calender and it looks great! It's full of some brilliant images of the kiwi who have been at Kiwi Encounter and is in a useful page-a-month format. Best of all - 100% of the money we raise from these calenders goes straight to the National Kiwi Trust that runs Kiwi Encounter. If you'd like to purchase one (or several!) call into Kiwi Encounter at Rainbow Springs or click here to email Toni with orders. The calenders are $20 each and we'd love your support! They'll make excellent Christmas gifts for all the rellies overseas too.
Blue Star Print Group www.bspga.com.au
Photoarts www.photoarts.co.nz
Thanks Botany Downs Secondary College!
Once again, the students from the John Britten Whanau at Botany Downs Secondary College in Auckland have sponsored a kiwi chick and have donated their time too. Thanks everyone. You can click here to go to the Britten Whanau's page and read all about their new kiwi chick 'Waiti'.
Another egg for Billie & Artha
Following up on their successful first egg last season, our newest captive breeding pair have produced another beautiful egg for us. The egg has been lifted is being artifically incubated inside Kiwi Encounter. Keep checking this page to find out when the egg hatches...