Stopping at the Taranaki Kiwi Trust stall at the local A&P Show turned into a life changing event for Kevin Stokes after talking with Sue Hardwick-Smith.
“I only got involved because I ran into Sue one day at the Stratford A&P show. They had a stand there and I got talking with her. I said yea I don’t mind coming out as a volunteer and helping you.”
Four years later and he is hooked. He admits that it is something he enjoys doing as he shares the experience with others.
“One of the enjoyments of it really is seeing the kids’ faces. To see their faces’ as they get a chance to hold these birds is priceless.
“It is just something that I have an interest in and I’ve got the time to do it. While I am fit enough to do it I will keep doing it.”
Right from his first trip Kevin has been interested in helping save our national icon.
“The first time I went out it was an egg lift with Sid Marsh. I went out a few more times and then it just took off from there.
“I enjoy it because I can do it on my own. For the monitoring I just come and go as I want to.
“It also means I have been able to share the field work with Sue which leaves her time to do the administration side of things as well.”
Initially Kevin spent a lot of time with kiwi handlers catching the kiwi and putting transmitters on. This work involved day patrolling and monitoring to discover whether they had a mate and whether they were sitting on an egg.
“Once a year the transmitters are changed. If the kiwi is not breeding or there is no mate around the transmitter is removed.”
Kevin’s job is to monitor what they are doing every three to four months. All kiwi work involves permission from Department of Conservation including being a registered handler, able to lift eggs or changing transmitters.
“We will only do one egg lift per bird so they can have another egg and raise it themselves. Eggs that are lifted go to Rotorua and are hatched. When the get to 1,100g they can be released back into their natural environment.
Again volunteers play a crucial part as they drive the previous eggs up to Rotorua and then the young kiwi back to be released.
A highlight for Kevin is the first egg lift and transmitter change he had to organise on his own. Accompanied by his son and his son’s girlfriend they all got an extra special surprise.
“We went in this day. I reached into the nest to get him out and passed him over. Sue said we will grab the eggs too. I reached in to grab the egg. As soon as I put my hand in to grab the egg I knew but I kept my mouth shut.
“I got the first egg out and Sue said right grab the second egg. I said na we have a problem. She said what? I reached in and pulled out a chick. It still had the white on it as it had just hatched. It was under 12 hours old.”
A lot of Kevin’s volunteer hours have been spent near the whitecliffs in an area known as Parinihihi.
“There is some real rugged country in there. You have to enjoy the bush work and a lot of the time it is just bush bashing.
“When we are working to catch new kiwi we do a patrol during the day with the dogs just around the area to find out what the area is like. We just pick an area and suss it out.
“We walk around and see where the creeks are, the ridges are and pick out the ideal spot that we think the kiwi may be. So we do that all day.
“Then we go home, have some tea and grab a quick nap. We are then back out all night and get home something like 4am after trying to catch one.
“You then get a bit of sleep and then back up in the morning doing some more bush bashing. Sometimes you can go four or five day without much sleep but the reward at the end is always worth it.”
Recently Kevin was heading to Karapiro for a wedding and thought he would visit The Kiwi Encounter in Rotorua on the way. After talking with Sue they decided to check on a nest and see if they could carry out an egg lift for Kevin to take for his first delivery.
“Sue and I knew it was going to be close to the end of the hatch. When I went in to do the egg lift in the morning I actually got a desertion coding and I thought buggar it I have missed out they’ve gone.
“When I got to the nest I found that he was still sitting there. I lifted the egg and found that there was a crack in it. I thought it is only just a little wee hole and I could see his beak so we will be safe.
By the time he left Uruti at 9:30am went home, had a shower and packed his gear he noticed the shell was starting to crack open quite a bit.
“I thought…. this is not going to turn out too good
“I rang The Kiwi Encounter and said this is the scenario. They said there is a good chance I would be bringing them a chick. They told me how to repack the incubator and to keep monitoring so the bird has room to move if it does come out.”
By the time he had reached the iconic Awakino pub he had a fully hatched kiwi chick. The chick decided that its temporary incubation box being a chilly bin with a hot water bottle in it nestled on the front seat of Kevin’s car was a great place to enter the world.
“When I was born I was too impatient and couldn’t wait around so ended up being born in the car on the way to the Waitara maternity Hospital. Maybe the chick was trying to out do me!”
Photo by : Kevin Stokes
“The Kiwi Encounter had told me how to position the egg so that the chick could hatch properly. Normally when we carry the egg we put it in the chilly bin and the egg is laying across the seat and pointing at the driver. That way any car movement is not going to bother the egg.
“Because the chick was starting to hatch that wasn’t how the egg needed to be sitting. I had to turn it in the incubator the other way so I could pack socks on the sides of the egg so the ends were open and he could push out. He had to have room to push out of the shell.
After ensuring he had space and enough air all Kevin could do was keep an eye on the chick as it kicked its way out of the shell.
“As he is pushing out The Kiwi Encounter said that he creates a lot of energy and the heat rises dramatically inside the box. I had to keep pulling the temperature down so he didn’t get too hot.
“It certainly made for an interesting trip!”
As any parent knows travelling with a new born is an anxious experience.
“I stopped a few times but because I had it set up on the front seat of the car I could just reach across and lift the lid slightly. I had a proper temperature gauge set up in the box. I was finding all sorts of things inside the car to help prop the lid open. I just wanted to make sure he was OK.
“The Kiwi Encounter said to me to just leave him alone, don’t touch him but just let him be. Just ensure that he doesn’t get too hot and make sure he has enough air.”
Photo by : Kevin Stokes
As he arrived at the Kiwi Encounter he was surprised at the reaction of the staff even though they were expecting him to arrive with a chick.
“It was quite amazing the excitement they had to see me arrive with a chick in perfect healthy condition. They were all quite excited.”
Kevin says the whole experience has had a huge impact on him.
“It was the closest thing to seeing my own kids born. It certainly is an adrenalin rush! The whole event was quite exciting! I also felt quite helpless as I couldn’t really do anything for him.”
Anybody interested in volunteering for the Taranaki Kiwi Trust contact Sue Hardwick-Smith at sue@taranakikiwi.org.nz.