Robin breeding season has been in full swing for the past couple of months. Two weeks ago one of our nest cameras caught a surprising new kiwi behaviour on film.
You can check out what happened here.
Sadly, Darcy and Lizzie’s nest was destroyed by the kiwi and their 10 day old chicks were killed. This was a disaster for the robin pair (Lizzie has left Darcy as a result), but it is the first time a little spotted kiwi has ever been seen doing something like this.
This unexpected ‘dark side’ to our national icon captured quite a lot of local media attention and created some… interesting headlines:
Deadly kiwi whacks robins on her turf | National | NZ Herald News
Video: Killer kiwi ravages robin’s nest | NZNews | 3 News
Rachael also spoke to Radio NZ about the ‘killer kiwi’ incident.
Cognition and Behaviour Research 