🏆 Last Chance to Enter!

Entries close tonight for our Kiwi Release Competition!

This is your final chance to be part of something unforgettable — helping release one of the first little spotted kiwi back into the South Island in nearly 100 years. 🐦💚

🎁 The winner will also receive:
🧸 A cuddly kiwi toy
👕 A limited-edition t-shirt
🎟 And a once-in-a-lifetime role in a kiwi release at Brook Waimārama Sanctuary

✅ Enter now via the link in our bio (or visit https://www.brooksanctuary.org.nz/bringing-kiwi-home/kids-kiwi-release-competition)

📅 Entries close 11:59pm tonight – 30 April

Don’t miss this chance to be part of history!

Photo credit: Andrew Digby

#BringingKiwiHome #KiwiReleaseComp #KiwiPukupuku #BrookSanctuary #KiwiComeback #LastChanceToEnter #KiwiPukupuku #NelsonNZ #ConservationNZ #NelsonNZ #SaveTheKiwi #TeamKiwiNelson

🗓️ 1 Week to Go!

There’s just one week left to enter our special Kiwi Release Competition!

We’re giving one lucky winner the chance to be part of history — by helping release a kiwi pukupuku into Brook Waimārama Sanctuary this May 💚

It’s a once-in-a-lifetime experience, and entering is easy:

✅ Fill out the entry form via the link in our bio
✅ Follow @brooksanctuary (optional)
✅ Share the competition post with your friends! (optional)

🎁 You’ll also go in the draw to win a limited-edition t-shirt and a cuddly kiwi plush toy.

📅 Entries close: Wednesday 30th April
Be part of this historic homecoming — don’t miss out!

👉 Enter now: Link in bio

#GetToKnowKiwi #KiwiPukupuku #BringingKiwiHome #BrookSanctuary #LittleSpottedKiwi #KiwiComeback #ConservationNZ #KiwiComeback #NelsonNZ #SaveTheKiwi #TeamKiwiNelson

🐦 Get to Know the Little Spotted Kiwi

Before they arrive in Nelson, here’s what makes kiwi pukupuku so special.

They might be the smallest of Aotearoa’s five kiwi species, but kiwi pukupuku are anything but timid.

These flightless, nocturnal birds spend their days tucked away in cosy burrows, hollow logs, or hidden beneath dense bush — but once night falls, they’re on the move.

🗣️ They’re surprisingly vocal, too. Males call out with a high-pitched rising whistle, while females respond with a slower, lower trill. Both will often repeat their calls 25–35 times in a row, duetting to stay in touch.

🪶 They’re also fiercely territorial. Clashes with neighbours can get dramatic — with sharp claws and flurries of feathers left behind!

🍽️ What’s on the menu?
Earthworms, beetle larvae, cicada grubs, moths, spiders, and the occasional fallen fruit or leaf.

👀 How do you spot one?
They’re small and pale, with light brown-grey feathers finely banded with white, a long pale bill, and short pale legs and toes.

🆚 Lookalike alert: Juvenile great spotted kiwi can look similar but are darker overall, with dark legs and toes.

And here’s a sweet fact: only the male incubates the egg — one or two large white eggs, laid between July and January.

This May, 40 kiwi pukupuku will return to the South Island for the first time in nearly 100 years — settling into their new home at Brook Waimārama Sanctuary.

Let’s give them the welcome they deserve 💚

Credit @savethekiwinz for the photo

#GetToKnowKiwi #KiwiPukupuku #BringingKiwiHome #BrookSanctuary #LittleSpottedKiwi #KiwiComeback #ConservationNZ #KiwiComeback #NelsonNZ #SaveTheKiwi #TeamKiwiNelson

🥝 Where do kiwi pukupuku live?

And why is their return to Nelson so special?

Kiwi pukupuku (little spotted kiwi) are New Zealand’s smallest kiwi — with different subspecies once spread across both the North and South Islands, from forest and scrublands to coastal bush.
By the late 1800s, they had virtually disappeared from the North Island.

In the South, they were still common in places like Nelson, Westland, and Fiordland into the early 1900s — but then predators took their toll.

In 1912, five South Island birds were moved from the Jackson Bay area to Kāpiti Island, where they flourished — becoming the source population for all living kiwi pukupuku today.

Since 1983, they’ve been translocated to a handful of offshore islands and fenced mainland sanctuaries — but until now, never back to the South Island mainland.

This May, 40 kiwi pukupuku will be translocated to Brook Waimārama Sanctuary — the first time they are returned to the South Island mainland.

The sanctuary provides intact, old growth native forest, where they can forage for insects in leaf litter and rotten logs, and nest in burrows, hollow logs, or under dense vegetation.

With nearly 700 hectares of pest-free habitat, the Brook offers the conditions they need to survive and thrive — safely.

A return to their natural habitat.
A homecoming to Te Waipounamu / South Island.
And it’s happening here in Nelson. 💚

#KiwiComeback #BringingKiwiHome #BrookSanctuary #KiwiPukupuku #ConservationNZ #NelsonNZ #SaveTheKiwi #TeamKiwiNelson