Photo: Bev Wilkinson (L) and Miriam Strachan (R) conduct a health check on a kiwi at the Napier kiwi creche.
Bev Wilkinson knows a thing or two about kiwi. And she should, after working with this taonga species for almost 20 years.
“My kiwi conservation career started by being shoulder tapped by my friend and longtime kiwi expert, Claire Travers,” Bev recalls. “In a desperate attempt to get someone urgently to get through the second clutch of kiwi eggs at Kiwi Encounter (now the National Kiwi Hatchery Aotearoa), Claire asked me if I was available. I had done some volunteering at the facility but had no egg experience. I said to Claire, ‘I’ll do it, but remember … I haven’t worked with eggs before.’ Her reply: ‘I’ll teach you everything I know’.
“17 years later, I’m still in the industry, still loving it, and still calling Claire regularly with questions!”
Born in Timaru but raised in the “Mighty Manawatu” and now living in the Hawkes Bay, Bev is the Poumatanga Whakamaru Kiwi, Husbandry Manager at the Napier Kiwi Creche, a facility run by Save the Kiwi with the support of Napier City Council and the National Aquarium of New Zealand. From when it opens its doors in early-October until the last chick leaves in July, the creche is the temporary home for up to 60 kiwi chicks.
These precious fluff-balls arrive aged approximately 2-3 weeks old, weighing not even a block of butter , and stay until they reach the ‘stoat-proof’ weight of 1kg (around 3.5 months). At this point, they’re released back into the wild where their egg originally came from (usually Maungataniwha or Pohokura as part of the Forest Lifeforce Restoration Trust’s prolific kiwi conservation project). At this weight, they’re hefty enough to stand up to a stoat should they come face to face with one in the wild.
“I do what I do, not only because I love it but because I am now seeing the benefits of the work that has been accomplished over the years,” says Bev. “One of the biggest milestones in my career has been the change of the North Island brown kiwi’s status from threatened to not threatened (conservation dependant). A change in status like this only comes from damn hard work, commitment, passion and drive.”
And there’s a lot of “damn hard work” that goes into protecting and rebuilding this species. For her part, Bev is usually mucking in at the Napier Kiwi Creche by 8:30am, “sometimes earlier if I’m a bit twitchy about a chick”. Once she knows all chicks are accounted for and safely tucked up in their burrows, it’s onto preparing food for feed-out at the end of the day for her feathered friends.
Then it’s onto the not-so-cute parts of the job.
“Picking up poo from the kiwi runs is tedious but needs to be done, not only for chick health but also for pen health. Pen maintenance and scrubbing boxes if we have had chicks leave needs to be done too.”
Wednesdays (and sometimes Thursdays when the creche is at capacity) are for health checks. This is also the day the whole team – Miriam, Matt, and sometimes volunteers Carol, Bev’s dad Ernie and Miriam’s eight-year-old daughter Mea – gets together.
“This is a team day, so we all get to be together which is great for camaraderie. We work together to weigh each of the chicks and carry out tip-to-toe health checks.”
One of the best parts of the job is sharing kiwi with sponsors to the creche.
“Seeing the faces of people who have never seen a kiwi before is something that has always delighted me in my career,” Bev says. “I love telling the kiwi story as they cannot tell it themselves.”
Another highlight was reaching the big 200th kiwi release.
“My proudest moment at the creche was seeing the 200th kiwi release tick over, which happened in just four seasons. We work with some incredible people and organisations. Being able to be the middleman, so to speak, by looking after the chicks until they’re strong enough to go home is a real privilege.”
Of course, there are challenges – and fears.
“Bad weather – and the Hawkes Bay has had a lot in recent years – is always a challenge, but thankfully we’ve always escaped the worst.
“The potential arrival of HPAI (Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza, or bird flu) in New Zealand is also cause for concern so the team is up to speed on what that could look like for us.”
There’s also the ever-present threat of nasties getting in.
“We have an excellent trapping regime here, and we carry out daily perimeter checks around the facility,” says Bev. “Trapping is something that you cannot be blasé about. We might be a haven for kiwi in here, but outside there is always the threat of pests like stoats, rats, and feral cats. We work really hard to keep the baddies out.”
For Bev, her role in kiwi conservation and with Save the Kiwi is less a job and more a calling.
“I always get out of bed with a smile on my face on workdays,” says Bev. “A workday is exciting, challenging, busy and rewarding. I really can’t imagine doing anything else.”