Stand very quietly on a still winter’s night in the Brynderwyn Hills, and you might just hear it: the shrill whistle of a male kiwi, answered moments later by the lower growl of a female. It’s a sound now being heard in places where it hasn’t been for generations.
Our latest kiwi listening results tell a wonderful story of kiwis spreading across the Brynderwyn Hills, quietly reclaiming parts of the landscape they haven’t occupied in decades.
Since kiwi were reintroduced to the Brynderwyn Hills in 2013, their calls have been monitored each winter to understand how the population is spreading and recovering.
Our survey is part of Northland’s wider kiwi call-count monitoring programme that has been collecting data since 1993. It is one of the longest-running kiwi monitoring programmes in New Zealand. These surveys have built an extraordinary long-term record of kiwi recovery, allowing us to watch the population grow across the motu, expand into new areas, and recolonise parts of the landscape.
Here in the Brynderwyn Hills, we’re seeing that story unfold.
One of the areas surveyed this winter was the north-eastern end of Massey Road. Previous surveys in the area had picked up only the occasional distant male kiwi call, suggesting birds were somewhere nearby but had not yet established themselves.
This year was different.
Two listening devices recorded multiple loud, nearby calls from both male and female kiwi. Even more excitingly, they recorded three duets, in which one bird called, and its partner immediately answered. Duetting is a strong sign of an established pair, giving us confidence that kiwi are no longer simply passing through the area; they are settling in and likely breeding.
For those living around Massey Road and the Waipū side of the Brynderwyn Hills, it’s wonderful news.
We’re seeing the same story elsewhere too. This year, kiwi were also detected around Pebblebrook Road, where both male and female calls were recorded in the bush linking the Brynderwyn Hills towards Jude Road. At nearby Baldrock Road, farmers Innes, Tania and Jim were thrilled to hear kiwi calling across their land. Little by little, kiwi are expanding beyond the forest and into the network of bush remnants, gullies and private land that connect our landscape.
What makes these discoveries even more special is that these landowners have been part of the journey from the very beginning. They joined us in the early days of the Trust, back when we were Piroa-Brynderwyns Landcare (PBL), and have spent years trapping predators, planting native trees and quietly restoring the landscape.
Now they’re hearing the return on that investment in the best possible way, with kiwi calling once again from their own backyards.
All this shows that when we work together as a community we can keep kiwi and other birdlife safe. A great example of this was when the young male kiwi Rangiora, wandered out of the forest and through the Echo Valley area. Residents rallied together, keeping dogs inside at night and secured during the day, keeping an eye out for stray dogs and giving Rangi the space he needed to make it safely back into the hills.
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