Our special kiwi
As New Zealand’s iconic native bird, the kiwi is an important aspect of our country and culture.
At Rainbow Springs you can get up close and personal with kiwi in their natural habitat. There are seven currently at the park – four in the nocturnal house and three in the outdoor enclosure for night-time viewing. You can also visit Kiwi Encounter, located at Rainbow Springs which is New Zealand’s only ‘open to view’ kiwi hatchery and rearing facility. They have hatched and nurtured 726 eggs to date with 138 of those hatching last season.
The eight currently at Rainbow Springs are North Island Brown Kiwi. You can see them day and night performing their natural instincts as they sniff out and dig for food. They also like to run back and forth and rest up against the trunks; they are quite entertaining creatures.
Dedicated to the survival of our kiwi population, Kiwi Encounter offer tours enabling you to see conservation in action. During the tour you will see each stage a kiwi chick goes through before being released in to the wild. The team at Kiwi Encounter rears the kiwi through incubation, hatching and raising. To ensure your experience is also educational, there are visual displays so you can learn about New Zealand’s national icon, their current plight in the wild and the conservation efforts being made to preserve them.
While the North Island Brown Kiwi is absolutely protected, they are not officially listed as endangered species with their population estimated in the thousands. Kiwi are very much a bird of the native forest, however with their natural habitat being destroyed to make way for farming and planting of exotic forest, their population is quickly declining.