West Coast Wildlife Center

Kiwi are a nocturnal, flightless bird found only in New Zealand.  Since they are nocturnal, the Wildlife Center has a dark enclosure where we could see the Rowi, the rarest type of Kiwi.  We could walk through the Nocturnal House as long as we did it quietly and without taking any photos. 

They are part of the "Ratite" family, and are related to birds like the Emu, Ostrich and Moa.  "Ratite" refers to their flat breastbone, which does not have a keel from which strong flight muscles are normally attached. 

 

Kiwi can live up to 70 years but only about 50% of kiwi eggs hatch in the wild.  Of those, only about 5% make it to adulthood.

Kiwi are monogamous and won't start breeding until they are 4- to 5-year-old. 

Click on the photo so it enlarges to enable you to read it.

Kiwi will lay 1 to 4 eggs in a year and the male does most, if not all, of the incubation.  The eggs are incubated for about 80 days, the longest for any bird in the world.

Even if you do smell them, you probably can't catch them because they can run faster than a human.  

A stoat is part of the weasel family and are native to Eurasia and North America.

Information about the west coast gold rush of the 1860's.

Information about the area's timber industry

Information about deer farming

Introduction of deer to New Zealand

Greenstone - New Zealand jade

Whitebait - we had some the night after this photo was taken.

Pukeko

Shining Cuckoo

Paradise Shelducks mate for life

Pekapeka is the Māori name for long and short-tailed bats. They are the only mammals native to New Zealand.

Royal Spoonbill are a more recent arrival 

The kotuku only breed near Okarito lagoon.  In the late 1800's they almost went extinct because they were being hunted for their feathers, which were used to adorn woman's hats.  

There is a cafe at the Wildlife Center so we decided to eat something local.  This is a venison steak and cheese pie.

And this is a wild hare mushroom mustard pie

We paid extra for the guided tour behind the scenes to see the kiwi hatching and incubation facility and the Tuatara Encounter.

Just see how they grow.

They didn't have any eggs incubating while we were there.  The machines in the back turn the eggs during incubation

Kiwi eggs are only slightly smaller than an emu egg. 

These eggs are huge - about 20% of the female's body weight!  That's like a human delivering a 6-year-old!  They can weigh over a pound.  

Just a few cages in the brooder room.  No kiwis. 

We were shown what they look like at different stages in their development. 

We were able to hold these weighted kiwi toys so we could fill how heavy they were at various stages in their life.  They are heavy. 

The estimated number of each type of kiwi currently living in the wild. 

The second half of our tour took us to a different area of the center to see the tuatara.  The signage was all worded as if one was talking to you. 

One of the tuatara they had in the habitat.

They had an enclosure for the locusts.  I guess one had gotten loose earlier in the day, but we didn't see it. 

The guide had caught one of the tuataras before the tour so we could see one up close and even feel it's skin.  It was way softer than it looks.