Kiwi return to Wellington hills after century-long absence, as 250th bird released

Key facts

• 250 kiwi have been relocated to Wellington since the Capital Kiwi Project began.
• The first 11 kiwi were released in Mākara in November 2022.
• The project achieved a 90% chick survival rate, far exceeding the 30% target.
• Only about 70,000 kiwi remain in New Zealand, down from an estimated 12 million.
• The kiwi population drops 2% each year.
• Seven kiwi were presented at Parliament on April 28, 2026, the first time the bird entered the building.

A historic homecoming

On a misty hill above the Cook Strait, late on Tuesday night, Paul Ward and a small team carried seven crates in silence, lit only by dim red torches. Inside each crate nestled a kiwi — including the 250th bird to be returned to Wellington's wilds since the Capital Kiwi Project began. The kiwi, New Zealand's sacred national bird, had vanished from the hills around the capital more than a century ago. Now, after nine years of community effort, the flightless birds are back. "They are a part of who we are and our sense of belonging here," said Ward, founder of the charitable trust. "But they've been gone from these hills for well over a century and we decided as Wellingtonians that wasn't right."

Parliament welcomes the birds

Earlier that evening, five kiwi were presented to a crowd of 300 people inside the banquet hall of New Zealand's Parliament. As handlers moved through the group, cradling the whiskery birds, onlookers were spellbound. Some grew teary; one boy scooped up a soft brown feather that drifted to the floor, urged by his mother to keep it safe. It was the first time kiwi had ever set foot in Parliament. The event, attended by politicians, children, iwi (tribes) and environmental groups, marked the culmination of a project to redevelop a kiwi population in Wellington's wilds after more than 100 years of absence. "This is our manu [birds] coming home to the place they have inhabited for millions of years but which they had a brief exile from," Ward said.

Community-driven conservation

The Capital Kiwi Project, a community initiative launched in 2022, set out to reintroduce kiwi to the city. The first cohort of 11 kiwi was released into a vast sweep of hilly farmland in Mākara, 25 minutes west of Wellington's centre, in November 2022. Another 232 have followed in the years since, and the birds have produced dozens of chicks. The project was required to achieve a 30% chick survival rate to meet the terms of its Department of Conservation permit. It has greatly outstripped this goal, with an unprecedented 90% chick survival rate. Wellington now has the largest population of people living alongside wild kiwi in the world.

A bird under threat

The kiwi is one of the most vulnerable birds in New Zealand, with only about 70,000 left across the country. The population drops 2% each year. It is estimated that 12 million kiwi roamed the landscape before humans arrived, but introduced predators and habitat loss have driven numbers to worrying lows. The kiwi is spiritually significant for many New Zealanders and gives the country's people their common nickname. Its image appears everywhere, including on the tail of air force planes — curious for a bird with no tail that cannot fly. "Kiwi have been a part of who we are and our sense of identity as long as people have been here," Ward said. "If we are honest with ourselves, we haven't honoured the koha [gift] of that relationship."

Living alongside kiwi

The project has proved so successful because of the community's enthusiastic buy-in, Ward said. Mākara residents now hear kiwi in their gardens at night; mountain bikers have encountered them on their tracks; and kiwi have been spotted in suburbs far from where they were released. Wellington mayor Andrew Little said the project is hugely significant for the capital. "It's demonstrating that even for a concentrated urban environment like Wellington city, we can restore biodiversity." The seven kiwi brought to Parliament — five of which were shown to the crowd — are the last cohort to be introduced, bringing the total number of birds released into Wellington's wilds to 250.

A model for restoration

The return of the kiwi to Wellington offers a blueprint for urban conservation efforts worldwide. By combining community action, rigorous monitoring and predator control, the Capital Kiwi Project has shown that even a dense city can become a sanctuary for a threatened species. As the last birds were released into the misty hills, Ward and his team watched them disappear into the night. The kiwi, once exiled, are home. The question now is whether other communities can follow Wellington's lead and restore what has been lost.

The bottom line

• The Capital Kiwi Project has successfully reintroduced 250 kiwi to Wellington's hills after a century-long absence.
• The project achieved a 90% chick survival rate, far exceeding the 30% required by the Department of Conservation.
• Wellington now has the world's largest urban population of wild kiwi, with birds spotted in gardens and suburbs.
• Only 70,000 kiwi remain in New Zealand, with numbers declining 2% annually due to predators and habitat loss.
• The initiative relied on community buy-in and demonstrates that urban biodiversity restoration is possible.
• The seven kiwi presented at Parliament marked the first time the bird had ever entered the building.