Kiwi

There are currently 23 kiwi on Maungatautari ranging in ages from one to seven years old. Eight of the kiwi have come from Otorohanga Kiwi House with the remaining seven from Tongariro National Park.

Maungatautari is large enough to support 2000 kiwi.

On Tuesday 10 December 2007 a chick, the first to be hatched on Maungatautari in more than 100 years, has appeared from its burrow to see the world. The chick is the offspring of Elmo and Atua and unlike its parents was able to hatch in the wild as nature intended thanks to the predator proof fence which surrounds its enclosure.

Elmo hatched at Rainbow Springs in Rotorua while his two year old female partner Atua was hatched at Otorohanga Kiwi House.

Takahe

There are currently two pairs of takahe on Maungatautari.

Early on the morning of 15 June 2006 a young male takahe was collected from Maud Island and a young female from Mana Island and flown to Maungatautari. The two quickly bonded and are never far from one another. In 2006 they began nesting but as yet no fertile eggs have been laid.

On 6 August 2009 a second pair of takahe was released into the pest free southern enclosure. Mārōrō is a 6 ½ year old female – it is hoped that she breeds with her younger mate Ngutuwhero.

Takahe facts

• The current natural population is restricted to the Murchison Mountains in Fiordland National Park (~53,000ha), and there are also some small translocated ‘managed’ populations on a few off-shore islands where they now face overcrowding. Maungatautari will be another translocated managed population - its geographical distance offering security against disease wiping out the species.
• The South Island takahe was thought to be extinct until a few birds were spotted in the Murchison Mountains, Fiordland, in 1948. Human predation and a range of introduced predators would have been the main agent of decline for both North Island and South Island takahe, from the glory days when they occurred throughout their respective islands.
• Adult birds can grow to 50cm high and weigh about 3kg. The nest is a raised bowl of grasses and normally three eggs are laid.

Kaka

Fourteen kaka have now been released onto Maungatautari – these include the four kaka chicks which hatched in the aviary in December 2008. Timata, Flapper, Puku and Billy T are the first kaka chicks to hatch on Maungatautari in more than 50 years.

Parents of the chicks Mia (female) and Wild-one are on loan from Auckland Zoo – it is hoped that they hatch another clutch while they are here.

Hihi (Stitchbirds)

In early March 79 nationally endangered hihi (stitchbird) were transferred from Tiritiri Matangi, in the Hauraki Gulf, to the Maungatautari restoration project in the Waikato.

It is the first translocation of hihi to the Waikato region and the start of a sustainable breeding population which will eventually see hihi proliferate across the 3,400 hectares of pest free native forest.

The birds are the first hihi on Maungatautari in well over a century.

Popokatea (Whiteheads)

In late March 2009 60 popokatea (whiteheads) were transferred from Little Barrier Island to the southern enclosure on Maungatautari.

“These 60 birds are another important step in the restoration process. We reintroduce them now and let their numbers slowly build up. Whiteheads are likely to become the most commonly seen and heard bird on the mountain – quite simply without them our restoration would be very incomplete ecologically, visually, acoustically, and aesthetically,” said Trust ecologist Chris Smuts-Kennedy.