Wild Bird Wednesday 626 - Southern Brown Kiwi

The Southern Brown Kiwi (Apteryx australis) is one of New Zealand's largest Kiwis. Like all other Kiwi, this species is flightless and largely nocturnal. They are part of the group of birds known as ratites, which includes ostrich, emu, cassowary and rhea.  Kiwi are the smallest members of this group of birds.

The Southern Brown Kiwi is endemic to New Zealand - as are all other species of Kiwi - and is only found in a few areas.  One of these areas is Stewart Island, which is off the southern end of New Zealand's South Island.

I was lucky enough to visit Stewart Island recently and encountered this Kiwi on a night tour.  As you can imagine photography is not easy in the dark!  We watched this bird with the use of red-light and then I converted the (all red) images to black and white.  I really like the image of the bird with the worm. There is estimated to be a population of abut 15,000 on Stewart Island. 

This bird is a female and would have been about knee high to me, and females can weigh over 3 kg.  The males are considerably smaller.

Even in these pictures you can see that the feathers of Kiwi are loose and fluffy, presumably to provide better insulation as they do not fly. 

Kiwi lay huge eggs, and just prior to laying the egg may account for up to 30% of the body weight of the female!

Note the worm hanging from the Kiwi's beak

The nostrils of the Kiwi are right at the very end of its beak - and they often seem to get blocked with dirt or debris as the Kiwi is probing about.  This causes the Kiwi to sneeze or cough regularly, and this behaviour is often associated with a violent head shake.  I found this rather comical, but I'm not sure the Kiwi agree!

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