Second chick for Maungatautari?

Maungatautari Ecological Island Trust, 24 July 08.

A signal from a chick timer transmitter attached to Robin, a three year old male kiwi on Maungatautari, indicates he is incubating an egg.

"Its exciting news but it is early days yet," cautioned Trust fauna ecologist Chris Smuts-Kennedy.

"The chick timer transmitters we are now using give very accurate incubation and hatching dates which means we don't have to keep checking the burrow for a chick. With this hands-off approach all we need to do is wait, let nature take its course, and keep our fingers crossed that by the end of September we have another kiwi chick on the mountain."

Robin and his partner Horokio produced an egg late-in-the season last year, which failed to hatch.

It is kiwi breeding season and so far several pairs of kiwi on the mountain are showing signs of breeding activity including Elmo and Atua who produced the kiwi chick Huatahi last year. Elmo has been spotted digging burrows - perhaps sorting out a nest site.

Transmitters on all the birds will be carefully monitored over the next few weeks to record which pairs are possibly incubating eggs, and will continue over the next few months to alert the Trust to the pending arrival of any chicks.