Kapiti island is about10km long and lies 5km off the coast, which has allowed it to stay mostly mammal free for most of its existence. The short version of the history of the island seems to be this; for a few million years nothing happened and the local bird population got on with its peculiar habits, including lots of living on the ground. Then the maori arrived and had a bit of fun eating the larger ones and (as it was strategically desirable and defensible) having a good old punch up with each other over who owned it. Next europeans arrived and decided they owned it, and persuaded the maori this was the case. They improved the environment by burning the whole island ecosystem and settign up goat and sheep farming followed by whaling stations. Eventually some sensible people realised that as this was one place kiwis might survive they might actually try to a bit of conservation and it became a protected area; the farmers were bought out and the land allowed to recover into what will eventually become mature forest. It was vital it be rid of stoats and rats so vigoruous poisoniong and trapping was used to remove them (and still is done as necessary today). Apparently stoats will swim a km or so but not 5, so the kiwi has a chance to re-establish itself. At the time of writing there are thought to be about 1200 on the island and it is used to populate other areas where re-introduction is being tried.
There may be 1200 but they are truly elusive. Living in burrows several metres into the hills and only coming out at night, then only to feed in scrub and thick grass, they are very hard to spot. Their calls are loud and distinctive so you can at least hear that you can't see them. Anyone got a thermal imaging camera they can spare?
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