Kiwi bird life and breeding

Kiwis are exclusively nocturnal. During the day they hide in their caves and lairs, they do not leave before sunset. They move in complete darkness under cover of undergrowth and bushes. They are have, rather unusually for birds, a good sense of smell and hearing.
Kiwis inhabit a spot which they share with the partner for their whole lives and with whom they live together in monogamy.

The area is defended by both sexes. While the district boundaries are aggressively defended during the breeding season, at other times of the year, the presence of other Kiwis in the district up to a certain extent is tolerated. If a district is lost through land clearing, a kiwi pair is often several weeks before it looks out for a new environment. The district boundaries are marked with feces, again a behavior that one finds among birds as well as in other animals.

Within the district Kiwis use numerous burrows, which are used alternately. They are used for sleeping and in the breeding season as a nest cavity. The entrance is 15 inches wide, and is usually under dense vegetation or hidden between tree roots. A long tunnel leads up to two meters to the cave that is large enough to accommodate two kiwis. Solitary Kiwis are either very young birds or those that have lost their partners.

Food

Kiwis are omnivorous, feeding on all animal and vegetable materials, but mainly they poke the soil for invertebrates, especially earthworms, centipedes and insect larvae. The movements of the animals in the soil can be carried out by Kiwis, then they sink their beaks into the ground and feel the prey. Kiwis leave in their area characteristic beak holes that are up to 15 inches deep and reveal the presence of a kiwi. Fruits and insects are also collected from the ground.

Propagation

As a monogamous bird Kiwis only look for a new partner if the old partner has died. One Kiwi pair has been observed who had spent over ten years together. Every year from August to October the Kiwi couples enter the breeding season. Then they chase one another and perform jumps. To breed one of the burrows in the area is used, and always one that is already several months or even years old. The result is that it is overgrown with plant vegetation. T

he male prepares herein the nest, gathering moss and grasses. The female then lays one or two, rarely three eggs. The egg is a huge size. Often a brown kiwi egg is 13 × 8 inches tall and weighs 500g. These are in relation to body size of their producers, the largest bird eggs in the world – they reach 30 percent of body weight of the female. When the male alone breeds, the female sleeps in a different building, which is located nearby. At 63 – 92 days, the incubation period lasts an unusually long time.

The breeding male is leaving the building each night to eat, order, and the duration of the activity is restricted during breeding. The female takes over the incubation in these intervals.

The eggs are very vulnerable, particularly to the Weka. The hatching kiwi already looks like a small edition of the parents. During the day they are still guarded by the male, they leave the nest at night alone and are rarely guarded by the parents.

At the age of 18 months Kiwis reach their full size and within two years they are sexually mature. Its life may be more than twenty years. In San Diego Zoo there is currently a kiwi living at the age of 39 years.