A hunter on the West Coast has made an incredible discovery after stumbling upon an endangered little spotted kiwi – half a century after they were last seen in the South Island.
Luke Hill, a tahr hunter contracted by the Department of Conservation, encountered the kiwi unexpectedly while in remote South Westland bush.
“It was around 11 or 12 at night. I was coming down the hill and yeah, it was tough bush so it was a welcome sight to see the kiwi,” he told 1News.
“That was a highlight of the trip. I definitely felt that it wasn’t your regular, everyday brown kiwi.”
Hill took photos and notified DOC, sparking a four-night stake-out with conservation dog Brew to find the missing kiwi again.
Hunter Luke Hill encountered the kiwi unexpectedly while in remote South Westland bush. (Source: Breakfast)
DOC project lead Iain Graham described the search as surreal.
“When I originally heard the birds I heard them dueting. The calls you can hear from kiwi are quite distinct; you can distinctly tell a male and a female apart.”
Graham put all of his bush skills to good use, climbing onto a rock for a better view.
“Apparently I dove off the rock and landed next to the bird and managed to grab him before he took off,” he said.
The whole mission was captured on camera.
In the video, members of Graham’s team could be heard gushing as he revealed the little spotted kiwi – a “rounded little fella” – from a bag he had captured it in.
“The exciting thing about that is they haven’t been seen on the mainland for about 50 years so they were considered extinct off the mainland,” he said.
Two thousand of the endangered birds still exist on islands off the coast of New Zealand.
Kara Edwards of Kāti Māhaki says the find is an opportunity for hapū to connect with what had been considered a lost taonga.
“Knowing kiwi pukupuku have survived this whole time in our takiwā is incredible. We are extremely excited and looking forward to working with DOC to secure the future of kiwi pukupuku,” she said.
Hill said he was shocked by the “magnitude of finding that special bird”.
“I didn’t realise it would be that at all.”
Transponders were attached to the birds before they were released back into the bush.