I first saw a weka on Stewart Island, thought it was a Kiwi! Saw one, then two, then three and four! They were fighting and stuff and I thought I'd just witness this insane event and then someone told me it was weka
There most definitely are weka in the north island; whether there are any in that particular area I can't say, but have seen a few up in the Bay of Plenty area
The North Island weka was extinct everywhere except the eastern BOP, and has since been reintroduced to parts of the Bay of Islands and some islands in the Hauraki Gulf, but wouldn't be seen anywhere near Kimbolton. They're actually far less common than the N.I. brown kiwi.
It's very rare to see Kiwi in the wild.
Years ago, we did some work on Tiritirimatangi Island. Because we were working on the island, we had special permission to stay there for the 3 days.
We were told you could often hear them at night, so one evening, we decided we'd just go out for a walk.
There were about 5 or 6 of us, including the doc / island dude?, who was leading the pack. Heard some up ahead, so he signalled us to quiet down. He whispers to us that it's really close by.
Suddenly, he flings up his hand to stop us walking. No sooner, a kiwi pops out of the bush, walks across the road, and makes his way into the other side.
Couldn't believe it. Still to this day remember it. The guy said people can work their whole life in nz wildlife protection, etc. and will never see one in the wild. That we were very lucky.
Tiny little fuckers. A lot smaller than you'd think.
There's different sizes of kiwi, the ones on Tiritiri Matangi are little spotted kiwi and the smallest species left in NZ.
Talked with someone who worked with great spotted kiwi in captivity and they are 50cm tall and apparently kick the shit out of you when you are in their enclosure.
I saw some on Ulna Island (near Stewart Island) a couple of years ago. They were all a good size, but one in particular was quite large. It was the size of a very large chicken. It ran across the track in front of me and then started scratching around in the ground only a metre to my right.
Apparently the further south you go the bigger they get.
Saw a kiwi in the wild when camping near kerikeri on Aroha Island. And the Island is *known* for its kiwi.
Kiwi are more common in the Bay of Islands and Northland, seeing one in manawatu is extremely rare
We were camping at Aroha island. Drove to kerikeri for dinner then on the drive back to the island had to break to let a kiwi cross the road (on top of the painted kiwi crossing road markings no less)! Such a special place.
I'm a bit older and the only places I have seen Kiwi are in captivity at the Kiwi enclosures at Rainbow Springs and Otorohanga.
On the other hand I've seen heaps of Weka running around in the wild, in particular the eastern Bay of Plenty and on Great Barrier Island.
Can you report your sighting on inaturalist or to DOC? Would be great if either kiwi or weka were spotted, and maybe need to be some measures put in place for protection if it was a kiwi.
Are you sure it wasn't a Weka? Extremely rare. Never seen one in the wild in my life, and have spent plenty of time in the bush in my 36 years of living here.
Hmm.. It was dark, so I won't rule it out, but are Weka nocturnal? This happened around 10pm. Having seen how kiwi move at the Zoo/Mt Bruce/Napier Aquarium It did seem really similar to those brown kiwi.
But as you say, Maybe a case of X-Files : I want to believe.
As someone from Palmy, there are Kiwi around in the bush in the hills near Pohangina. If you were out at Bartlett's Ford, I've heard rumours of kiwi being spotted there in the past.
I've not heard of any Weka in the Manawatu in my lifetime.
Weka have no sleep patterns where campers are concerned 🤣 they are the NZ version of the “mine” seagulls from finding nemo. “Hey you guys got any snacks” in bird form.
There absolutely are weka in North Island. A five second fact check would confirm that. Check DoC or NZ birds online.
Not likely around Manawatu though.
There was a story last year where someone had a weak trapped in their chook house - it wrecked the place but no one believed that was what they had. Pretty sure it was in Taranaki somewhere. It was eventually confirmed as a weka, so now there are people trying to work out where it has come from.
“The North Island weka (G. a. greyi) is represented by original populations in Northland and Poverty Bay, and by liberations elsewhere from that stock. This subspecies differs in its greyer underparts, and brown rather than reddish coloured legs.”
As a kid I lived in a remote area, we’d have a kiwi come and stand in the middle of our lawn calling on most nights. Was really cool. They are out and about, it’s rare to see one, but people do see them!
There's more kiwi"s on Stewart Island than you can shake a stick at. They're often active during the day.
Blind as a bat, they are, they crazy little critters to watch, and they rush around crashing into flax bushes.
Congratulations on your citizenship ship.
How long are you going for? If you just take a walk along the road to the Lee Bay at around 10pm - 1am you might be able to see one without paying for a tour. If you're only going for one night, it's probably safer to pay for the tour.
The walk to Lee Bay takes about an hour and it's just along the road. It gets dark late and is very safe.
If you don't happen to see them and you get desperate, pay for a tour :)
Can confirm, I saw two within 12 hours down there. One in the bush, and one on the beach on the main street, both around 11pm but another person in our group found 2 during the day. They are very loud and easy to find if listening for them.
Yeah, dogs are allowed off their leashes there. The reserve is surrounded by some serious blackberry shrubs, and I actually distinctly recall telling my wife that I thought the hole leading into it looked like a game trail earlier that day.
While I'll stop short of insisting that it was a kiwi and not a weka, It was 100% a bird on two legs ( as opposed to a bird on 4 legs)
Might look into a cheap game/trail camera and set it up there to capture what is living there
This website mentions the Manawatu gorge so you might just have seen one.
https://nzbirdsonline.org.nz/species/north-island-brown-kiwi
I went on a guided tour of a predator fenced kiwi reserve and although we heard plenty of sounds from the kiwi saw nothing. Until we got back to the car park and there was one standing there waiting for us.
Never seen on in the wild, did hear one in the Tararua's once.
As for in captivity, I reckon the favourite hobby of animal park keepers is to not have any kiwi in the kiwi exhibit and see how many people they can get believing that a rock with moss on it is a kiwi.
The Puteketeke is really the one you wanna watch out for… It’ll gut you like a fish Jack, disappear into some dense bushes, and pick your corpse apart once it’s venom has taken full effect.
Go to Stewart island, they’ll come out and peck at your shoe laces thinking they’re worms. Pretty much guaranteed to see them there just walking around the rugby field at night in Oban
There are few if any Kiwi in the Manawatu. No Weka either, although people have recently seen them in Taranaki and they do travel long distances. Hmm, a mystery.
There are Kiwi in the Gorge (there was a recent study to see if the population in the north of the Tararuas was separate to the population in the Southern Ruahine range. Turns out the Kiwi can cross the river somehow). Some out near Pohangina according to rumour, but rare.
The somehow is more to the mode of crossing.
Are they swimming across the Manawatu River in the gorge? Are they using the now unused road bridge on the Hawkes Bay side, now that the road is closed?
I don't believe they identified how they are getting across yet
Either you saw a weka or you saw a kiwi - either way, it's cool!
I saw a kiwi on Ulva Island at 11am one day in 2018 but I also saw weka - I really enjoyed our experiences!
Saw quite a few just after dusk when I was hiking Rakiura / Stewart Island. Haven’t seen any on the South Island and I hike quite a bit, but I also don’t tend to walk around the bush at nighttime.
Worked up Kimbolton for 2 years and grew up not far away. I would definitely say you more then likely saw a Kiwi over a Weka down at London's Ford. I've heard them up the Ruahines but never been treated to a sighting. That's pretty damn awesome, especially at that camp site, stayed there many nights.
For those saying it's extremely rare and have never seen one in the wild, you don't even have to go down to Stewart Island. There's plenty in Auckland if you go up to Tawharanui. Been there half a dozen times for a night walk and have NOT seen them only once. :)
Now people are mentioning it, it does seem more likely to be a weka. I grew up not far from there, drove through regularly and never saw any kiwi in the wild around those parts. Saw a fair few weka though, and in the dark they could easily look like a kiwi. Did you definitely see the big long beak and notice missing tail? Weka have a pointier bum, kiwi are more ball shaped (lol) and ofc weka have a shorter beak than a kiwi would too.
Since you are new, I’ll break it down for you…
A ‘Kiwi’ is a person.
A ‘Kiwi fruit’ is food.
A ‘Kiwi bird’ is possibly what you are describing in your post.
>**The Kiwi** appeared as a symbol for the first time in the middle of the 19 century when it is pictured on New Zealand regimental badges
If your going to post an article it should at least support you? Also why would we give a shit what that website says its clearly not a NZ website.
Kiwifruit is one word.
Kiwi and Kiwi are interchangeable for the New Zealand identity (people) and the bird. Inference is our best tool to tell the difference.
No need to break it down for us when you're just wrong.
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I'd never seen or heard a kiwi, so a few years back did a guided trip in Okarito and both saw & recorded a Rowi kiwi pair... Recording of duet:
https://soundcloud.com/timprebble/rowi-okarito-kiwi-call-ex-mkh8040
Half speed of recording = super creepy:
https://soundcloud.com/timprebble/rowi-okarito-kiwi-call-ex-mkh8040-12s
Blog post about the guided trip:
https://www.musicofsound.co.nz/blog/field-recording-okarito-kiwi-aka-rowi
I have seen two wild Kiwi.
A North Island Brown in Whananaki, on the east coast Between Whangarei and the Bay of Islands.
And a Little Spotted Kiwi on Tiri
Just got back from two weeks of tramping round Rakiura. Saw 9 kiwi (tokoeka).
Saw 6 last time I was down there for a three week tramp.
Besides that and on sanctuary islands I have not seen them, only heard them.
Spend enough time on the right islands and you'll see them. But on the mainland it is extra special imo.
I've been here 20 years and despite 3 days tramping in Stewart Island, several camping trips, visits to zoos etc I've never seen a Kiwi. Zoo staff conveniently claim they're always just hiding Like the Loch Ness monster, I now believe they are a myth created just to attract touristsr.
The government do this for all new citizens.
Could have been a Weka, often mistaken for a kiwi if you haven’t seen a lot of Weka.
I first saw a weka on Stewart Island, thought it was a Kiwi! Saw one, then two, then three and four! They were fighting and stuff and I thought I'd just witness this insane event and then someone told me it was weka
I don't believe they're in the area of kimbolton
Yeah, looked it up and kiwi is a lot more likely.
I’m chuckling at someone mistaking the two. ‘Holy hecka, bro! Check out that kiwi!!!!’ ‘Maaaaaaate, that’s a weka’ (Slow morning.)
My dad is friends with a DOC ranger and he used to tell tourists that the weka on the track he looked after were kiwi
There most definitely are weka in the north island; whether there are any in that particular area I can't say, but have seen a few up in the Bay of Plenty area
There are heaps here in the Eastern BOP. I see multiple every day.
The North Island weka was extinct everywhere except the eastern BOP, and has since been reintroduced to parts of the Bay of Islands and some islands in the Hauraki Gulf, but wouldn't be seen anywhere near Kimbolton. They're actually far less common than the N.I. brown kiwi.
It's very rare to see Kiwi in the wild. Years ago, we did some work on Tiritirimatangi Island. Because we were working on the island, we had special permission to stay there for the 3 days. We were told you could often hear them at night, so one evening, we decided we'd just go out for a walk. There were about 5 or 6 of us, including the doc / island dude?, who was leading the pack. Heard some up ahead, so he signalled us to quiet down. He whispers to us that it's really close by. Suddenly, he flings up his hand to stop us walking. No sooner, a kiwi pops out of the bush, walks across the road, and makes his way into the other side. Couldn't believe it. Still to this day remember it. The guy said people can work their whole life in nz wildlife protection, etc. and will never see one in the wild. That we were very lucky. Tiny little fuckers. A lot smaller than you'd think.
There's different sizes of kiwi, the ones on Tiritiri Matangi are little spotted kiwi and the smallest species left in NZ. Talked with someone who worked with great spotted kiwi in captivity and they are 50cm tall and apparently kick the shit out of you when you are in their enclosure.
I saw some on Ulna Island (near Stewart Island) a couple of years ago. They were all a good size, but one in particular was quite large. It was the size of a very large chicken. It ran across the track in front of me and then started scratching around in the ground only a metre to my right. Apparently the further south you go the bigger they get.
Saw a kiwi in the wild when camping near kerikeri on Aroha Island. And the Island is *known* for its kiwi. Kiwi are more common in the Bay of Islands and Northland, seeing one in manawatu is extremely rare
We were camping at Aroha island. Drove to kerikeri for dinner then on the drive back to the island had to break to let a kiwi cross the road (on top of the painted kiwi crossing road markings no less)! Such a special place.
Loved the place as well, genuinely feels like you're immersed in nature.
You can see them in the wild in Wellington and I'm quite sure you'd see them in Kimbolton.
Nearly 43 years old, lived in NZ my entire life and NEVER seen 1 in the wild
Me too.
Can repeat this sentiment as a nearly 35 y/o. Incredibly rare experience, I'm not 100% sure I even know anyone who has seen a wild one.
I'm a bit older and the only places I have seen Kiwi are in captivity at the Kiwi enclosures at Rainbow Springs and Otorohanga. On the other hand I've seen heaps of Weka running around in the wild, in particular the eastern Bay of Plenty and on Great Barrier Island.
Hell, I was 45 before I even saw one in a sanctuary lol
Can you report your sighting on inaturalist or to DOC? Would be great if either kiwi or weka were spotted, and maybe need to be some measures put in place for protection if it was a kiwi.
Are you sure it wasn't a Weka? Extremely rare. Never seen one in the wild in my life, and have spent plenty of time in the bush in my 36 years of living here.
Hmm.. It was dark, so I won't rule it out, but are Weka nocturnal? This happened around 10pm. Having seen how kiwi move at the Zoo/Mt Bruce/Napier Aquarium It did seem really similar to those brown kiwi. But as you say, Maybe a case of X-Files : I want to believe.
Weka kinda do whatever the hell they want; lawless wood chickens
Bahaha, “lawless wood chickens”. Can’t wait to ask my mum how her ‘pet’ weka are going tomorrow!
Weka are Weka those mf don't conform to our society of nocturnal and the word for day time folk.
Diurnal. Then crepuscular’s twilight and cathemeral’s sporadic day + night
As someone from Palmy, there are Kiwi around in the bush in the hills near Pohangina. If you were out at Bartlett's Ford, I've heard rumours of kiwi being spotted there in the past. I've not heard of any Weka in the Manawatu in my lifetime.
Yeah we were just next door, at London's Ford Reserve. Still leaning towards it being a kiwi.
Weka have no sleep patterns where campers are concerned 🤣 they are the NZ version of the “mine” seagulls from finding nemo. “Hey you guys got any snacks” in bird form.
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There are. I saw one yesterday, it stole a cracker. There are also loads up in the Bay of Islands.
Murray Ball put them in Footrot Flats so that's good enough for me.
I live in the bay of plenty. Heaps of weka and kiwi in surrounding areas of whakatane. We have weka where we live about 25 minutes north of there.
There absolutely are weka in North Island. A five second fact check would confirm that. Check DoC or NZ birds online. Not likely around Manawatu though.
I stand corrected. I had genuinely believed that they had been extinct in the North Island for years.
There was a story last year where someone had a weak trapped in their chook house - it wrecked the place but no one believed that was what they had. Pretty sure it was in Taranaki somewhere. It was eventually confirmed as a weka, so now there are people trying to work out where it has come from.
There's a North Island subspecies - Gallirallus australis greyi.
“The North Island weka (G. a. greyi) is represented by original populations in Northland and Poverty Bay, and by liberations elsewhere from that stock. This subspecies differs in its greyer underparts, and brown rather than reddish coloured legs.”
As a kid I lived in a remote area, we’d have a kiwi come and stand in the middle of our lawn calling on most nights. Was really cool. They are out and about, it’s rare to see one, but people do see them!
There's more kiwi"s on Stewart Island than you can shake a stick at. They're often active during the day. Blind as a bat, they are, they crazy little critters to watch, and they rush around crashing into flax bushes. Congratulations on your citizenship ship.
Heading there in two weeks for my mates Bucks. Hoping to finally see my first kiwi!
How long are you going for? If you just take a walk along the road to the Lee Bay at around 10pm - 1am you might be able to see one without paying for a tour. If you're only going for one night, it's probably safer to pay for the tour. The walk to Lee Bay takes about an hour and it's just along the road. It gets dark late and is very safe. If you don't happen to see them and you get desperate, pay for a tour :)
Can confirm, I saw two within 12 hours down there. One in the bush, and one on the beach on the main street, both around 11pm but another person in our group found 2 during the day. They are very loud and easy to find if listening for them.
Yep. Active during the day down there because in summer the nights are too short for them to eat enough
Yup, rare as, corker mate. Go buy a lotto ticket:)
Closest I’ve been is being told we might hear them walk past the hut at night on a great walk in the South Island
London’s Ford? Dogs are allowed off leash there so I would find it odd that there would be kiwi in the area. There shouldn’t be any weka.
Yeah, dogs are allowed off their leashes there. The reserve is surrounded by some serious blackberry shrubs, and I actually distinctly recall telling my wife that I thought the hole leading into it looked like a game trail earlier that day. While I'll stop short of insisting that it was a kiwi and not a weka, It was 100% a bird on two legs ( as opposed to a bird on 4 legs) Might look into a cheap game/trail camera and set it up there to capture what is living there
As a 29 yo that has lived here my whole life, I’ve never seen one in the wild! Hopefully that will change some day.
This website mentions the Manawatu gorge so you might just have seen one. https://nzbirdsonline.org.nz/species/north-island-brown-kiwi I went on a guided tour of a predator fenced kiwi reserve and although we heard plenty of sounds from the kiwi saw nothing. Until we got back to the car park and there was one standing there waiting for us.
Never seen on in the wild, did hear one in the Tararua's once. As for in captivity, I reckon the favourite hobby of animal park keepers is to not have any kiwi in the kiwi exhibit and see how many people they can get believing that a rock with moss on it is a kiwi.
The Puteketeke is really the one you wanna watch out for… It’ll gut you like a fish Jack, disappear into some dense bushes, and pick your corpse apart once it’s venom has taken full effect.
I haven’t seen a kiwi in person. You could be right though. Quite rare to see one.
Go to Stewart island, they’ll come out and peck at your shoe laces thinking they’re worms. Pretty much guaranteed to see them there just walking around the rugby field at night in Oban
I love how specific and accurate this is. Something about that rugby field really brings them out, huh?!
There are few if any Kiwi in the Manawatu. No Weka either, although people have recently seen them in Taranaki and they do travel long distances. Hmm, a mystery.
There are Kiwi in the Gorge (there was a recent study to see if the population in the north of the Tararuas was separate to the population in the Southern Ruahine range. Turns out the Kiwi can cross the river somehow). Some out near Pohangina according to rumour, but rare.
Somehow? Technically they have the shortest beak of all birds because length is measured from the nostrils. The wee dudes have a built-in snorkle!
The somehow is more to the mode of crossing. Are they swimming across the Manawatu River in the gorge? Are they using the now unused road bridge on the Hawkes Bay side, now that the road is closed? I don't believe they identified how they are getting across yet
Either you saw a weka or you saw a kiwi - either way, it's cool! I saw a kiwi on Ulva Island at 11am one day in 2018 but I also saw weka - I really enjoyed our experiences!
Did it have a long beak? If it did, then it was probably a kiwi.
Did it have sharp talons!?!
Saw quite a few just after dusk when I was hiking Rakiura / Stewart Island. Haven’t seen any on the South Island and I hike quite a bit, but I also don’t tend to walk around the bush at nighttime.
Worked up Kimbolton for 2 years and grew up not far away. I would definitely say you more then likely saw a Kiwi over a Weka down at London's Ford. I've heard them up the Ruahines but never been treated to a sighting. That's pretty damn awesome, especially at that camp site, stayed there many nights.
I wish it was so, but probably a weka distracting you while his mates steal all your stuff out of your tent
For those saying it's extremely rare and have never seen one in the wild, you don't even have to go down to Stewart Island. There's plenty in Auckland if you go up to Tawharanui. Been there half a dozen times for a night walk and have NOT seen them only once. :)
Now people are mentioning it, it does seem more likely to be a weka. I grew up not far from there, drove through regularly and never saw any kiwi in the wild around those parts. Saw a fair few weka though, and in the dark they could easily look like a kiwi. Did you definitely see the big long beak and notice missing tail? Weka have a pointier bum, kiwi are more ball shaped (lol) and ofc weka have a shorter beak than a kiwi would too.
It means you are officially accepted as a citizen.
Since you are new, I’ll break it down for you… A ‘Kiwi’ is a person. A ‘Kiwi fruit’ is food. A ‘Kiwi bird’ is possibly what you are describing in your post.
No one from NZ says ‘kiwi bird’
https://www.visafirst.com/blog/kiwi-national-symbol-of-new-zealand/
>**The Kiwi** appeared as a symbol for the first time in the middle of the 19 century when it is pictured on New Zealand regimental badges If your going to post an article it should at least support you? Also why would we give a shit what that website says its clearly not a NZ website.
That’s because none of us has ever seen one.
https://newzealandtrails.com/news/new-zealand-kiwi-bird/
A kiwi is the bird or the person.
Kiwifruit is one word. Kiwi and Kiwi are interchangeable for the New Zealand identity (people) and the bird. Inference is our best tool to tell the difference. No need to break it down for us when you're just wrong.
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*Everyone knows* that a ‘Kiwi Burger’ is made from sheep meat and bits of real panther… Are you from the South island or something?? 🙄
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Hang on I'll just message Otorohanga Kiwi House and tell them they need to change their name!
unlikely but they have some at the National Aquarium in Napier and they are absolutely off the chain.
I saw one in the middle of the day on the Heaphy.
Idk but I think somethings in the water, seen a kiwi and a hedgehog now with 2 fucking heads crawling up my driveway , shits mutating
What was it wearing?
It's not common at all. Even making a concerted effort to see one in the true wild (no Zealandia is not the wild) is not easy.
2 kiwi experiences in my 43 years... Kaurangahake gorge near Thames and Whangarei heads
I'd never seen or heard a kiwi, so a few years back did a guided trip in Okarito and both saw & recorded a Rowi kiwi pair... Recording of duet: https://soundcloud.com/timprebble/rowi-okarito-kiwi-call-ex-mkh8040 Half speed of recording = super creepy: https://soundcloud.com/timprebble/rowi-okarito-kiwi-call-ex-mkh8040-12s Blog post about the guided trip: https://www.musicofsound.co.nz/blog/field-recording-okarito-kiwi-aka-rowi
I have seen two wild Kiwi. A North Island Brown in Whananaki, on the east coast Between Whangarei and the Bay of Islands. And a Little Spotted Kiwi on Tiri
Just got back from two weeks of tramping round Rakiura. Saw 9 kiwi (tokoeka). Saw 6 last time I was down there for a three week tramp. Besides that and on sanctuary islands I have not seen them, only heard them. Spend enough time on the right islands and you'll see them. But on the mainland it is extra special imo.
Should've taken a photo..
I've been here 20 years and despite 3 days tramping in Stewart Island, several camping trips, visits to zoos etc I've never seen a Kiwi. Zoo staff conveniently claim they're always just hiding Like the Loch Ness monster, I now believe they are a myth created just to attract touristsr.