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Mohua the Great Spotted Kiwi
Date: 10 February 2006
Mohua the Great Spotted Kiwi
Willowbank Wildlife Reserve has become the home of ‘Mohua’ ,the first Great Spotted Kiwi to reside at the park. She was welcomed onto Willowbank on Saturday, 6 August with a Powhiri and was handed over from the Nelson constituent. This was a very moving ceremony where Willowbank was given the responsibility of the care of a very special bird. Mohua has been a guest at Massey University after an accident while being moved to the Rotoiti Nature Project Area in Nelson Lakes National Park.
During the release Mohua broke the very tip of her top beak, where her nostrils are. Kiwis are the only birds to have nostrils at the end of long bills, essential to help them scent worms when digging underground. She was sent immediately to the NZ Wildlife Centre at Massey for care. In May this year, with some regrowth of the bill, she was released into the Rotoiti area to see how she fared living in the wild. However she lost weight & had to be returned to Massey later that month. Shaun Horan from Willowbank went to Massey to learn the habits and feeding of the bird before escorting her to Christchurch Since arriving at Willowbank she has overtaken her original weight when in the wild.
Although the numbers of Great Spotted Kiwi have reduced from 30,000 to around 10,000 remaining in the wild there are no breeding birds in captivity. Willowbank’s park manager Paul Rushworth is very excited about the reserve having its first South Island kiwi. “We are a South Island wildlife reserve so we’re keen to have South Island species here. Mohua currently isn’t feeding by herself so we will be trying to get her to feed on her own as an important step towards her settling here. The less human handling she has the easier it will be for her. We want to give her every chance we can. If she can settle at Willowbank, one future option is to involve her in Great Spotted Kiwi breeding here.”
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Willowbank Wildlife Reserve & Restaurant
60 Hussey Road, Christchurch
New Zealand
Phone: +64 3 359 6226
Fax: +64 3 359 6212
Email: info@willowbank.co.nz
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