Natalie Ebbers, age 9 (2020)
Mum told me we might get to go Kiwi listening with Dave Howarth. We had been trying to listen for Kiwi at home on the back deck, but my sister and I hadn’t heard any Kiwi. We did hear plenty of pukeko though. It would be cool to hear a Kiwi call in real life!
When the night came, Mum packed a thermos of hot chocolate and some deck chairs and we put some warm clothes on and followed Dave up Kapowai Road in our car. When we arrived, I felt warm, cosy and excited. We walked for a couple of minutes then we set up the deck chairs and sat down. Mum poured us some hot chocolate.
Everything was quiet, then I heard a loud crunching noise and we all switched on our torches, except Mum…. Mum was on the ground! She had tipped out of her deck chair and was laughing, sprawled on the ground. We all burst out laughing too. I felt sorry for Mum, but it was a bit funny. She almost fell into a gorse bush!
Then it was all quiet again. Ow! Something was biting me. Ow! Ow! Mosquitoes every-where, in June! I tried to wave them away, but my jacket rustled too much, and I knew we needed to be quiet. I said to myself “Stop being fussy, they’re just mosquitoes!” I heard another one buzz past. I tried to hide my hands in my jacket, but they were really itchy. I wrapped them around my warm cup but the mozzies kept coming back!
Then I heard a KIWI!! We all heard it. The call was loud and high. The calling went on, several times. Then all was quiet again. “Wooow,” my sister whispered, “was that a kiwi?” It was, and it was so amazing.
Later we heard another call. Dave said it was the female kiwi calling in reply to the male.
While sitting in the dark in the bush, we also heard morepork calling and weta scratching all around. It was fascinating.
When we got home, I counted 14 mosquito bites on one hand and 11 on the other! But I didn’t care because it was so amazing and special to hear a real life Kiwi. I hope I get to go along again next year, but this time I will definitely remember to put on insect repellent!
Thank you, Dave for taking us Kiwi listening. It was really exciting.