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Tāwharanui Open Sanctuary Society

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Birds

Birds

Tāwharanui Wildlife and Dawn Chorus

We love seeing Tāwharanui through the eyes of our visitors! This video was filmed mostly in the park yesterday, with one special kiwi moment from February. The dawn chorus makes the perfect soundtrack. Enjoy! 🎥 Video by Jack Rafiei

By Justine Sanderson, 4 months13 October 2025 ago
Birds

Kākā nest found on Tāwharanui

Kākā nest in holes in tree trunks which makes them vulnerable to predation from stoats and invasion from possums. Within Tāwharanui they are many of them flying over, they are heard well before they are seen due their loud squawking and whistling calls. They are also seen and heard in Read more…

By Lyn Hamilton-Hunter, 2 years13 June 2024 ago
Birds

Takahē – 75 years on

The flightless takahē (South Island takahē; Porphyrio hochstetteri), is the world’s largest living rail. And now there is a double celebration for the takahē at Tāwharanui this summer. Firstly, we have a chick at the sanctuary that is doing very well and being cared for by very devoted parents. Secondly, the Read more…

By Lyn Hamilton-Hunter, 2 years4 January 2024 ago
Birds

Kiwi Count 2023

TOSSI volunteers completed the four sessions of kiwi call counting for this year by the end of May 2023. The process is repeated at a large number of sites across Northland within the same period as part of a citizen science program run every year in May. The How – pairs Read more…

By Lyn Hamilton-Hunter, 3 years10 July 2023 ago
Birds

Celebrating Pāteke

This year TOSSI celebrates 10 years of monitoring Pāteke at Tāwharanui – New Zealand’s rarest mainland waterfowl. A number of Pāteke were introduced between 2008 and 2010, and since then they have established on the park and spread out into Omaha and Christian Bay by 2014. So,10yrs ago in 2013, Read more…

By Lyn Hamilton-Hunter, 3 years9 May 2023 ago
Kiwi at night
Birds

Kiwi call monitoring 2022

Kiwi call count monitoring has finished at Tāwharanui Regional Park for another year. Thank you to those who braved the cold and were so co-operative when filling gaps in the roster at the last minute. Each session is a bit of a juggling act but people’s happy faces when they Read more…

By Jackie Russell, 4 years23 June 2022 ago
Cook's petrel in burrow
Birds

Cook’s petrel success at Tāwharanui

In a major first for Tāwharanui, a pair of Cook’s petrels raised a chick that fledged in March 2021. It is thought that this success is the first on the mainland of Aotearoa in a long time, maybe more than 150 years.  In 2019, the mainland burrow was discovered by Read more…

By Jackie Russell, 5 years12 April 2021 ago
Birds

Close encounter with Kaka in ecology bush

A visitor to the sanctuary meets a friendly Kaka.We received this photo from a recent visitor to the sanctuary with the following explanation. “I was walking the ecology trail and sat down for a few minutes at a little clearing. I heard a rustling sound and looked over to see Read more…

By Justine Sanderson, 8 years11 February 2018 ago
Recent Posts
  • Song of the Korimako/New Zealand Bellbird 19 January 2026
  • Tāwharanui Wildlife and Dawn Chorus 13 October 2025
  • Sunday in the Park 1 March 2025
  • 2025 Planting Days 31 January 2025

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