New Zealand February - June 2015, Zealandia (night tour)

As promised in a previous post, we paid Zealandia (former Karori Sanctuary) a visit at night, during one of their special (guided) Kiwi Tours. Normally these tours cost 75 NZD, but as we are Zealandia members, we only had to pay 50% of the price, which makes becoming a Zealandia member definitely an economically interesting option. Night tours have to be reserved and paid (with a credit card) in advance through this website. The starting times are different throughout the year, as they are correlated with the time the sun sets.

We started at 19:45 after we had an introduction talk by our guide about the reserve and the work that is being done here. We also received special red-light flashlights from the guides, as you are not allowed to use normal flashlights (or flashes on cameras) in the reserve at night. When we entered the reserve we were just in time to see some diurnal birds as well, like New Zealand Kaka's (which actually are also nocturnal as recent studies have shown!), New Zealand Pigeons, South Island Takahe, New Zealand Scaups and Australian Pied Cormorants.

Just after dusk Moreporks started calling from several places, but as you are not allowed to use playback, the chances of seeing these owls are fairly slim, even though they are quite common within the reserve. Pretty quickly after the sun had set, our guide received information through a walkie-talkie that a Kiwi had been found close by, so we hurried to the site. An yes, there it was, walking through the undergrowth, a Little Spotted Kiwi! We could easily observe it as it was foraging and at a certain point it got scared by a duck and ran towards us and crossed a small bridge, allowing absolutely stunning views of their jolly little walk and head-bobbing! The Little Spotted Kiwi's in Zealandia are reintroduced and originate from Kapiti Island, but they are breeding inside the reserve.

It is very difficult to photograph a Little Spotted Kiwi (Apterix owenii) in the red light of the flashlights. 

A little later we visited some Kaka feeders and found two Brown Teals foraging underneath it. These little nocturnal ducks often venture onto land and into the forest. Here we also observed another Little Spotted Kiwi and we thought of ourselves as very lucky. Little did we know that a few minutes later we would have a third encounter with a very tame (or confused) individual that walked up and down a small bridge and in the end walked into our group and poked the shoe of my friend, passing just centimeters in front of me! Two New Zealand Long-finned Eels, which measured up to one meter, venturing onto land from a small stream, some Cave Weta's and quite some glow worms emitting blue (not greenish as I am used to) light finished the tour very nicely.
I can highly recommend this tour to everybody. It is an amazing experience to see a Kiwi, but the other wildlife that can also be seen at Zealandia, make it an even more special night out!