Great Spotted Kiwi Apteryx haastii Scientific name definitions

50–60 cm; male 1215–2610 g, bill 90–100 mm, female 1530–3270 g, bill 125–135 mm. Flightless nocturnal bird with rotund appearance, lacking visible tail, and with very long, straight-looking bill and short, thick legs, plumage appearing hair-like. Head  is dark blackish-grey (becoming paler when plumage worn), small patch of darker colour below eye, long blackish bristles around base of bill; hindneck and upperparts yellowish-grey, back tinged chestnut, all irregularly barred brownish-black, variable (some individuals mottled grey all over, others more ginger in colour); below, light grey with darker barring, lower belly paler and tinged buffish; iris blackish-brown; bill  pale horn to pinkish-cream, sometimes upper mandible grey; legs brownish, darker scutes and paler skin between them, claws whitish with variable dark pigmentation (1 McLennan, J. A. and McCann, T. J. (1993). Claw colour in Great Spotted Kiwi. Notornis. 40(4): 76-78. Close ). Sexes similar in plumage, female larger and longer-billed than male. Differs from A. owenii in larger size, greyer appearance, and more regular plumage pattern with larger black spots. Juvenile is similar to adult, but smaller, feathers softer, although no real downy stage exists in this species, claws blackish.

Introduced to Little Barrier I, off NW North I.

New Zealand in NW South I, mainly W of main divide.

Variety of habitats, including tussock grassland, damp, mossy southern beech (Nothofagus) forest, dry, alluvial podocarp and hardwood forests, and scrub-covered coastal pasture. Sea-level to 1500 m; mainly alpine and subalpine zones at 700-1100 m.

Sedentary.

Mostly invertebrates, especially beetle larvae (Coleoptera) and earthworms (Oligochaeta), and in summer large crickets (Orthoptera) and spiders (Araneae); snails (including giant land-snails of genus Paryphanta) also recorded in diet, and freshwater crayfish (Parastacidae) taken when they leave flooded streams. Fallen fruit and leaves also eaten. Nocturnal; in pairs or solitary. Searches for food by probing in soil and natural hollows, including rotten logs and grass tussocks; uses bill to pierce snail shells. Able to reach items up to at least 1 m above ground by walking along trees leaning out from hillsides.

More vocal than congeners. Male gives shrill rising whistle with warbling quality, 1–1·5 seconds in duration, repeated up to c. 25 times at intervals of 1–2 seconds; female  whistle lower in pitch, slower, repeated up to 20 times. Grunting sounds by both sexes in aggressive contexts; alarm a loud sneeze-like wheezing call. Bill-clapping during aggressive encounters reported.

Laying Jul–Nov, replacements to Jan. Monogamous; females in lowland sites sometimes polyandrous. At Nelson Lakes National Park, family units inhabit distinct areas and the mean size of home range is c. 28 ha on average (n = 8) being larger in adults (34 ha) than in subadults (17 ha); overlap between subadult and adult home ranges range from 78–99% and subadults are often located roosting within 50 m of a parent; several subadults, aged more than 4 years, have also been located sharing burrows with adults (4 Jahn, P., Harper, G.A. and Gilchrist, J. (2013). Home range sharing in family units of great spotted kiwi (Apteryx haastii) at Nelson Lakes National Park. Notornis. 60: 201–209. Close ). Nest in natural hollow  or under vegetation, or in short burrow (at least 50 cm) dug by birds themselves and lined at end with thick layer of plant material; territory 8–25 ha in coastal forest, 12–26 ha in subalpine habitats. Clutch 1 egg, rarely 2, white with pale bluish or greenish tinge, 120–130 × 69–85 mm, two eggs 400 g and 470 g; unlike other species, incubation by both sexes, female at night, no information on duration of incubation; hatchling fully feathered; young  first leaves nest unaccompanied at c. 1 week of age, no information on age of independence. In a study near Nelson, on N coast of South I, only one chick fledged from eleven eggs laid. Long-lived; estimated generation time 15 years.

VULNERABLE. Global population estimated at 22,000 mature individuals in 1996; declining. May now number as few as 8000 birds. Three main populations: in area from NW Nelson S to Buller R, in Paparoa Range, and from upper Hurunui R S to Arthur’s Pass. Had been thought to be declining at rate of c. 5·8% per year (as for A. australis), but more recent surveys indicate that populations in wet upland areas (c. 50% of total numbers) may be stable or perhaps declining only slowly. Apparently always confined to South I, but range has contracted and become considerably fragmented since period of European settlement, and species has disappeared from several areas. Early losses probably due to use of poisons and traps for other animals and to introduction of mammalian predators. Introduced predators, chiefly domesticated cats and dogs, pigs, mustelids and brush-tailed possum (Trichosurus vulpecula), remain the greatest threat; chick survival likely to be very low, great majority of chicks not surviving to maturity, although survival far better in very wet highland area of range, where predators scarcer. Monitoring of this species is intensive and nationally co-ordinated, and involves radio-tracking and the use of specially trained dogs to search for ringed kiwis, as well as the counting of calls heard. One small population in E part of Southern Alps is managed intensively through active control of predators. This is the only kiwi species confined to the mainland, with no secure populations on islands. A small-scale translocation experiment to Rotoiti Island in Nelson Lakes National Park began in 2004 (5 Gasson, P. A. (2005). Translocation of great spotted kiwi/roa (Apteryx haasti) to Rotoiti Nature Recovery Project. Occasional publication No. 67. Dept. of Conservation, Nelson, New Zealand. Close ).