How are our kiwi doing and are they expanding their range across the Rodney region?
Join The Forest Bridge Trust (TFBT) Ecologist, Dr Virginia Moreno online, for a fascinating look at what our 2026 kiwi monitoring results are revealing about kiwi recovery across the region.
Between May and June, TFBT and partner conservation community groups deployed acoustic recorders across The Forest Bridge, (The Kaipara Harbour to the Pacific Coast). The monitoring is helping us understand where kiwi are moving, calling and potentially establishing new breeding territories.
And the results are encouraging.
Kiwi have been detected further from established populations, including on the West Coast, where acoustic monitoring has picked up kiwi calls 3-6km from the main Mataia kiwi population.
At southern Omaha, a female kiwi was detected answering the calls of the area’s resident male for the first time, a kiwi 'duet' that suggests the pair may have formed a bond and could establish a breeding territory locally.
Kiwi activity is increasing. At one Tāwharanui monitoring site, an average of 9.2 kiwi calls per hour was recorded across seven nights, up from 5.7 calls per hour in 2025.
So what does all this mean for the future of kiwi in Rodney?
Virginia will unpack the latest findings and explain what acoustic monitoring can tell us about kiwi populations. She will explore what these results mean for kiwi recovery, expansion and the future of kiwi beyond protected areas.
About the event:
- Presented by Dr Virginia Moreno, TFBT Ecologist
- Online via Zoom
- Approximately 30 minutes, followed by Q&A.
Join via Zoom:
- Zoom link
- Meeting ID: 858 5389 8819
- Passcode: U2cAt6.
Log on and discover what the latest monitoring is telling us about the kiwi comeback across Rodney and how the work of landowners, communities and conservation partners is helping make it possible.
Thanks to Rodney Local Board for their support.