Iwi and community-led effort return kiwi to Wellington for first time in over a century

WELLINGTON, 30 SEPTEMBER 2026 —

If you liked this story, share it with other people. For the first time in 150 years, kiwi once again live in the hills surrounding Wellington, Aotearoa New Zealand. More than 250 manu (“birds” in the Māori language) were successfully translocated back to the region, thanks to the efforts of the iwi (nations of Aotearoa), community members, and landowners behind the Capital Kiwi Project .

But removing predation threats to the kiwi was only the start, as it took years of relationship building with iwi, translocating birds, and educating community members on care — many of whom had never seen a kiwi in person before. “The three legs on which this project are based are those relationships with iwi, with Māori, the relationships with the communities, and the relationships with the landowners.

And if you pull one of those legs off, the tripod falls over,” Ward says. “This is a relational project as much as it is what you might traditionally call a conservation project. And I think at a fundamental level that if we lose our relationship with these animals, with these manu … they risk becoming a museum species,” he says.

Rāwiri Walsh (Taranaki Whānui ki Te Upoko o Te Ika, Ngā Rauru Kītahi, Ngāti Raukawa ki te Tonga, Te Āti Haunui-a-Pāpārangi) is the project’s Kaimanaaki Kiwi (kiwi guardian) and iwi liaison. He also joins the podcast to explain the process from the perspective of Te ao Māori (the Māori world). For the Capital Kiwi project to receive kiwi, they must be gifted the birds by iwi through a tono , a gifting process.

The project then bestows the bird on a community through a pōwhiri , a traditional Māori welcoming ceremony. “For any species translocation, the government entities and Department of Conservation have to have sign-off or agreement from the tribes that it affects, so in their areas,” Walsh says. And then the tono, as Walsh explains, is a request to the iwi for the birds.

“From a Māori perspective, we just had to agree with the iwi that we were receiving from, and they had to agree with us that they wanted to give us kiwi,” Walsh says. “What we were able to do when moving kiwi is … welcome the people, both the sanctuary workers as well as the iwi, onto the lands that they were bringing the birds.

And then … the responsibility and the onus to the birds would switch … we would do the pōwhiri or the ceremony, and then there would be a process where they would be handed over,” Walsh says. The project is far from over, Ward says, as communities now share responsibility for caring for the birds. He adds that this model is a proof of concept for reintroducing other species.

In total, including newly hatched chicks that made it to fighting weight (more than 90% of them), Ward estimates there are over 300 kiwi in the hills surrounding Wellington. “Ten years ago, [the] challenge probably would’ve [been] ‘Are we being too ambitious?’” he says. “I think now that challenge is one of complacency.

“We’re leaning into those relationships with our partners, with our iwi, our landowners, and our communities to explore what other taonga [property] species might be returned to these environments.” In the episode, Ward and Walsh reflect on what the kiwi means for the people of Aotearoa New Zealand, and how the return of kiwi has impacted Māori.

“When you take that bird, and you release it, and you’re placing it in a burrow, you’re putting something back into that whenua [land],” Walsh says.

“And for us as a people, we believe that we’re an integral part of that whenua, and when we are able to go out there and release kiwi or go out there and do that work on that land, that we ’ re putting ourselves and something back into that environment that has … a net positive benefit.” Please take a minute to let us know what you think of our podcast here .

Mike DiGirolamo is the host & producer for the Mongabay Newscast based in Sydney. Find him on LinkedIn and Bluesky . Banner image: Walsh performing a health check on a kiwi chick. This photo was one of National Geographic’s 2023 images of the year. Image courtesy of Robin Hammond/Capital Kiwi Project.

Paul Ward: I think one of the things that we- we’ve been able to reflect on after doing this work now for, for nearly a decade is unlike a bird that can fly, like a, a, a kaka parrot or a tui or a kereru, when you release a kiwi, you’re putting it back into the ground.

And I think there’s this sense of being an intrinsic part of what’s known as the whenua, the land, and collectively we’re restoring something that belongs to the land. And I think it’s something that, you know, whether you’re Maori, whether you’re Pakeha, like myself, or that all of us as n- as people who live on this place can identify with, with that act.

Rawiri Walsh: For us as a people, we believe that we’re an integral part of that whenua, and when we are able to go out there and release kiwi or go out there and do that, that work on that land, that we’re, putting ourselves and something back into that environment that, that has a positive, a net positive benefit. Mike DiGirolamo: Welcome to the Mongabay Newscast. I’m your host, Mike DiGirolamo.

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