By Anita Ebbers age 8 (2021)
We were lying down under the stars. I was looking up at a big Old Man Pine. I was almost at the base of it. To me, it looked like a big star in the middle of the blue-grey sky. It was all silent except for the scratch, scratch, scratching of the Weta in the tree behind us. The sky seemed so big.
“What was that?” I whispered to Natalie. I heard a Kiwi calling, getting higher and higher. It was a male Kiwi!
“1, 2, 3 ,4 ,5…” counted Natalie, and I joined in. 25 calls.
I was shocked to hear one so early on. I switched on my torch.
“Dad, did you hear that?” Natalie whispered.
“No,” Dad said, “What was it?”
“A male Kiwi,” I said to Dad.
David Innes recorded it on his clipboard.
“How far away was it?” Dad asked.
“Pretty far,” I answered. “I can’t believe I actually heard it.”
“I didn’t hear it at all,” Dad said.
After David wrote the information down, we switched off our torches. Silence…then, snap, snap, rustle!
“A pig!” I whispered to Natalie.
“Dad, is that a pig?”
“Yes,” whispered back Dad, “I think so.”
“How far away is it?”
“Close!”
“Oh no!” I squeezed into my sister, Natalie.
“Morepork, morepork,” called an owl. I almost jumped out of my skin with surprise. It was so loud!
A lot of time passed, but in that time, we heard Weta, pigs, and Morepork.
And then I heard it. The screeching call of a female Kiwi. “Dad, did you hear the Kiwi? It was a female this time!”
“Yes, I heard that one,” Dad answered.
Then all I could think was, “I can hear another Kiwi, a male this time!”
In all we heard seven kiwi calls; six male calls and one female.
It is so incredible to hear the calls of our endangered native Kiwi in the wild. I think it is the most interesting thing I have ever heard. I hope I can go Kiwi listening again next year!
Thank you, David Innes, for taking us along.