The Kiwi Birdlife Park

The NZ Pigeon

The Aussie Possum

A Tuatara

Today was our chance to go to the Kiwi birdlife Park.  its quite important, if you have flown all the way to New zealand, to know the basic facts about the Kiwi bird, and also to be able to see it up close.  You'll know the facts, but you won't have a picture, because they are in a nocturnal setting, and flashes scare them.

Things someone might ask you about kiwis:

 They have bones dense like mammals.

They also have marrow in their bones, like mammals.

They can't fly, however they do have very short,  

almost nonexistant wings.

They lay the largest egg of any bird.  An x-ray, taken of a kiwi with 

an egg still in her body, looked like it consumed 75% of her body.

She just lays one egg at a time, but up to six a year.

The male sets on the egg for about eighty days with just one hour off per night for feeding on insects and worms

50% of the eggs are eaten by predators (stoats, possums, rats, and weasels.)

If the chicks make it to six months they can 

defend themselves.

Their feathers look very much like fur.

The rare Red Crowned Parakeet

The NZ Falcon

The park also had native trees and plants, saw our first fuschia tree, and several Maori exhibits.