Kiwis at the National Zoo

There are five species of kiwi, all of which are flightless and unique to New Zealand. The National Zoo is home to several brown kiwis, the only kiwi that can be seen outside of New Zealand.

Keeper Kathy Brader provides updates about the Zoo's kiwis.

• Watch the kiwi chick cam.

Kiwi Update

March 31, 2012

Wow where has the time gone?! I can’t believe so much has happened, and I haven’t done a kiwi update since January. My only excuse is that I have been very busy with kiwi happenings.

Omana, our little girl is over 600 grams and doing very well. She is like her sisters, fairly independent and knows her own mind. Omana was named by the New Zealand Ambassador and his wife, the honorable Mike and Yvonne Moore. We hope they get to come soon and meet her, but they are very busy especially with Christchurch earthquake relief work. She is a very beautiful bird and the future plans for her will involve a trip to Europe, probably in the fall. The Berlin Zoo is excited to have her join them, where there are several males that are good candidates for her when she grows up.

Our second chick of the season hatched on March 7 and is a very healthy and bouncing boy! I was hoping for a male, and I got my wish. Though he does not have an official name yet, I have nicknamed him “Pip”, as he was a very lively guy almost from day one. Within twenty four hours, when I would come to weigh him, he would shuffle over to the door of the isolate and try to jump out to me. He is very sweet natured and really seems to enjoy being with people. He reminds somewhat of Manaia, though Manaia was a wee bit more laid back. The other unusual behavior that Pip did for the first four or five days was he would go to sleep on his back in my hand. I have never had a kiwi chick do that before, really too cute and funny. He actually did this with several other visitors we had!

I have to say this one went right to my heart. The other funny thing about Pip is he talks even more then Hiri did; he always has something to say. Pip also has his future home picked out for him. He will be going to the Antwerp Zoo, where there is a young lady that has been waiting for a boy from our kiwi for a couple of years. The curator and staff at Antwerp are over the moon and think he is a beautiful bird (always the right answer). Pip has made a lot of friends at the Zoo who have come by to visit with him.

I hope by the time this goes to press that the kiwi cam will be fixed and all of our kiwi friends can enjoy watching our newest member.

The other exciting news is that the Columbus Zoo kiwi pair produced two fertile eggs, one which went out to our SCBI and the second egg went to Central Park Zoo (NYC). Both eggs made the trips to their future homes without incident. Central Park Zoo sent four staff members down to spend a day with me to learn about kiwi egg incubation and kiwi chick care. At that time our second egg was still in the incubator, so the staff got to handle Omana and the egg.

Both of these eggs have now hatched. The egg at SCBI hatched on March 11 and is another boy. This male nicknamed by the staff out there “Pokey” (as their first look at him was his bill poking thru the shell) is very active and squeaky boy. Both Pip and Pokey are now eating and gaining weight. The SCBI staff is very happy to have this experience with incubation and now rearing a chick. The pair at SCBI are in breeding condition, and we are hoping for good news on that front soon.

The staff at Central Park are all breathing a little easier now that their chick has hatched and looks perfect. We don’t know the sex of their chick yet, but hope to know in another week or so. Now they just have to get through the next part of the normal weight loss and then the feeding. They have all fallen in love with their first kiwi but how could you not? Kiwi chicks are adorable, each one is an individual and quite unique.

All of our other kiwi are well. I am putting together a kiwi bio page with a picture of each our kiwi (including SCBI). This idea actually came from a kiwi fan. I hope by the summer to have this put together and edited for the web, so stayed tuned.

The only other kiwi hatch outside of New Zealand happened in early January at Frankfurt Zoo, a male from one of their established pairs. Unfortunately the fertile egg from the new pair from New Zealand did not make it--the embryo died early on. So that was a disappointment, but at least now we know the pair is a match and that is great news.

Double the Cuteness, Double the Kiwi

March 8, 2012

As devoted kiwi cam watchers may already know, a second kiwi chick hatched yesterday, March 7! At 4:15 a.m. that morning, the cam still showed a pipping egg. By the time keepers arrived just before 6 a.m. they found a peeping kiwi chick just picking off the last pieces of egg shell.

This egg was laid in late December. Geneticists will determine the chick's sex in the next week.

A New Kiwi Name and More New Kiwi

February 28, 2012

As you all know by now our newest kiwi has a name and the consensus here is we are all really pleased with it. She is named after the area where the Honorable Mike and Yvonne Moore (New Zealand Ambassador) hail from.

The park has an intriguing name, Omana which is a shorthand version of O-Manawatere ("the dwelling place of Manawatere") a Ngai Tai pa site in the park. Ngai Tai tradition records that this ancestor travelled from the Pacific homeland not by canoe, but by gliding over the waves on a Taniwha.' (beings that live in deep pools or the sea, often depicted as dragons or serpents).

Omana is now over 525 grams, not quite doubled her hatch weight. Omana was moved to her new mouse-proof enclosure that was custom-built for the zoo’s kiwi chicks!!! I know you are all anxious to see her in new home (as I am) but we have to wait for the IT folks to catch up to us. So the kiwi cam for now is focused on our newest kiwi egg which is progressing nicely. I think we will see a mid-March hatch but as most of you know until we get very close to the hatching it’s just a great guess.

Several items of interest are happening on the kiwi front. First Columbus Zoo did not have room for kiwi chicks this yea,r and since kiwi do not read the script for what there is room for, the Columbus pair has produced two fertile eggs!! Which is great news for some other kiwi zoos including our own SCBI group. The kiwi team there picked up the first fertile egg at the end of January and are now incubating the egg at their place. This will give the folks at SCBI a chance to get their own experience in kiwi incubation (which is different from other eggs) and rearing their own kiwi chick. I think this egg will hatch toward the end of March. They are very excited (so am I).

Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS, formally the Bronx Zoo, which includes several smaller zoos, like Central Park Zoo, CPZ) got their first two male kiwi last year and they are really gung -ho to get into kiwi big time. So when Columbus Zoo produced a second fertile egg I contacted them and asked if they would like to try their hand at kiwi incubation and chick rearing. It didn’t take long to hear back with a resounding yes. To this end CPZ sent down four keepers to spend a day with me and our kiwi and get some hands-on experience with our egg and chick. I think they came away with less stress and feeling they can do this!! Their staff has some great experience with incubating some very rare and endangered bird species and even though kiwi are bit more intense I am positive their staff is up the test!

Which if all four kiwi eggs (including the one in Frankfurt Zoo) hatch, we will actually have more than 50 kiwi outside of New Zealand, whew!!!

All the rest of our kiwi tribe continue to be in good health and active normal kiwi (well of course except for our very sweet natured Manaia, who is an exceptional kiwi)!

New Zealand Ambassador Names Newest Kiwi Chick

February 23, 2012

The third female brown kiwi that hatched at the Smithsonian’s National Zoo Dec. 11 has a new moniker: Omana (pronounced “oh-MAH-nah”). Mike Moore, New Zealand Ambassador to the United States, named the kiwi in honor of his hometown, O-Manawatere, a city located southeast of Auckland. Omana’s December 11 hatching is important to kiwi conservation—currently, there are only 15 female and 33 male kiwi in zoos outside New Zealand.

Only five zoos outside of New Zealand have successfully bred these unique birds, and the National Zoo has cared for six chicks—three males and three females—since Toru hatched in 1975. Like her wild-caught father Maori, Omana will become a valuable breeder because her genes are not well-represented in the captive population. She will not be on exhibit at the Zoo. However, in a few weeks, visitors to the Zoo’s website will be able to watch Omana forage in her new enclosure via the Kiwi Cam.The Zoo’s Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute in Front Royal, Virginia, also has a breeding pair of kiwi.

The International Union for Conservation of Nature considers brown kiwi an endangered species due, in part, to predation by dogs, cats, and stoats (members of the weasel family). The remaining wild population of the brown kiwi is estimated at roughly 24,000, down from 60,000 in the 1980s. In an effort to reduce chick deaths, New Zealand developed Operation Nest Egg and other programs that remove eggs and chicks from the wild, rear them in captivity and release them back to the forests once they weigh one kilogram—the weight at which they can defend themselves from most predators. The kiwi population is stabilizing in areas where conservation efforts occur.

Omana

Newest Kiwi Is One Month Old

January 12, 2012

Our newest member has turned one month old, and her weight is 288 grams up from her hatch weight of 224grams. And “ta-da” we have another girl! Of course we are thrilled to have another kiwi chick, but another girl is the best holiday present of all. This one has the same personality as Areta and Manaia. She is quite feisty in the morning. but when she calms down, she is a bit of a snuggler. She is eating her diet quite well, but doesn’t want to be hand fed.

The other interesting note is that she also squeaks like her two sisters. She doesn’t talk as much as Hiri did, but she does chat. As with all of our kiwi chicks she absolutely adores having her head rubbed (much like cats around the ears). Her eyes close, and if she could purr I think she would.

Several people have asked if she has a cowlick behind her neck. At first I thought, like all kiwi, this “wave” in her feathers would straighten out, but after all this time it does look like she might have a permanent wave. It is too cute! I know several people have asked about her name, stay tuned for details.

We hope that sometime in March she might be joined by another chick. When I came back from the holidays I received a bonus gift of finding a kiwi egg was laid around December 28.t Maori is doing his wonderful job of incubating, while Nessus is content to let him get on with it. Below is some of the pictures of our newest girl including some with a holiday bent. I hope you enjoy them as much as we enjoyed taking them. I hope that we can do another photo shoot at the end of the month so stayed tuned. All of our kiwi are doing great, and Koa continues to keep his weight up. It took a long time to get there, but he got there eventually. He and Manaia continue to share the ambassador duties for our Meet a Kiwi program.

A note from our overseas partners: Frankfurt Zoo’s new kiwi from New Zealand have produced their first egg, but alas like our new male out at SCBI-Front Royal, the male didn’t quite know what to do with it. They have an older experienced male (who is no longer breeding), so they decided to give him the egg. Like the pro that he is he popped on that egg with 30 minutes. They are seeing development, which is really exciting. Time will tell if this egg will hatch. They are expecting their first kiwi chick from their older pair soon.

Out at SCBI-Front Royal the new kiwi facility is almost completely finished. They still have yard work to do: mostly adding plants (anyone who wants to donate money to help with buying some plants would be welcomed!) The birds have moved into the house part and have settled down nicely. I have high hopes in the coming months their pair will be giving us some eggs. GO SCBI!

In the US, Columbus Zoo has produced their first kiwi egg of the season. They will check it at the end of the month. If any of you are in the Memphis area, check out their new addition. They received Justus from Columbus Zoo late last year. (Justus was the male that was on display, but Columbus is putting their young boys in that exhibit, so everyone in that area can view them). And it looks like all the shifting around of males for the San Diego girls may be paying off at last. The pairs are getting along and we have high hopes that the girls have found love at last.

Finally just a interesting note from New Zealand: Pukaha Mt Bruce hatched out a second white chick (from the same pair that produced the first). This one is named Mauriora which means “sustained life.” This one is also adorable (aren’t they all). Congrats to the team there. They actually have another egg from the same pair incubating, so it will be interesting to see what color that one is.