The kiwi call count is an annual, nocturnal event that tracks how kiwi populations are doing across the region using very analogue technology — human ears. The data they collect is paired with a more advanced version called the “kiwi listening blitz,” in which recording devices are deployed and calls are analysed every five years.
This year provided some excellent news: in 2021, 50 percent of places that were mute in 2016 were ringing with kiwis. Ngaire Sullivan, a coordinator at Kiwi Coast, an umbrella organisation that supports more than 180 iwi (tribe) and community groups fighting to safeguard kiwi in Northland, says, “It’s great.” “We are overjoyed with it.”
Kiwi calls could still be heard in all of the sites recorded in 2016, despite the fact that they were colonising new places.
The kiwi’s call is the most dependable technique to track the animals because it is a nocturnal bird. The sounds are simple to distinguish in the dark, and they even contain distinguishing qualities that allow conservationists to identify the same birds year after year.
Original Story: The Guardian
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/aug/12/hear-be-kiwis-new-zealand-celebrates-as-distinctive-cry-of-iconic-bird-returns
