Almost two months after the hatching season was expected to end, the last kiwi chick for 2020/21 has finally flown the coop from Taupō’s Crombie Lockwood Kiwi Burrow.

‘Halpin’ was chick 104 to hatch at the dedicated incubation, hatching, and brooding facility in Wairakei this season and was released into Sanctuary Mountain Maungatautari on June 30.

Over 100 hatches was impressive, said a Kiwis for kiwi release on the season total, considering in the previous season the burrow hatched just 23 chicks.

It put the high numbers and extended season down to wild kiwi playing catch-up after last year’s drought.

The centre opened partway through the 2019/20 season, and Covid-19 restrictions coupled with a drought impacted the number of eggs able to be incubated.

Burrow husbandry manager Helen McCormick said this season had surpassed all expectations.

“Because we hadn’t completed a full season at the burrow before, we really didn’t know what to expect.”

It was as if kiwi in the wild were playing catch-up because eggs just kept getting delivered, she said.

Usually in two distinct halves this year the season blended into one, and eggs were still being delivered months after they were expected, noted the release. There were also an unusually high number of multiple clutches, with some nests producing two sets of two eggs in the one season. Unusually two pairs even managed to produce a third clutch.

The national kiwi population is declining at a rate of two per cent annually and Kiwis for kiwi executive director Michelle Impey felt the successful season proved the organisation’s mission to reverse that and increase the kiwi population by two per cent per annum was achievable.

Crombie Lockwood chief executive Carl O’Shea said the work was of national importance and that it was “a real privilege to be a part of this journey.”

Credit: Stuff.co.nz