It is being organised by staff at Kiwi Park Queenstown to celebrate the long-awaited arrival of their new kiwi chick, which hatched on March 26.
General manager Richard Wilson said the ‘‘genetically distinct’’ eastern provenance brown kiwi, classified as ‘‘conservation dependent’’, was the first successful hatching at the park in two years.
‘‘It’s massive — it’s so exciting. It’s a new life for a national icon.’’
Department of Conservation Whakatipu operations manager David Butt said of the four types of brown kiwi — Northland, Coromandel, eastern and western — the eastern, of which the population numbered about 6900, needed the greatest support.
The Queenstown chick belongs to dad Anzac — who completed the impressive 78 days of incubation and was present during the hatching — and mum Atawhai, both 8, who were in ‘‘great health’’.
Wildlife curator Todd Jenkinson said it was ‘‘fantastic’’ the wildlife team had managed the breeding pair to see out a full-term incubation, while wildlife head Beth Millican said staff had ‘‘lost some sleep to the excitement’’, but watching the breeding pair become parents had been ‘‘a joy’’.
Mr Wilson said the chick weighed 176g at birth and is putting on an average of 9g per day — as of Tuesday it weighed 304g.
It would be on display at the Kiwi Park until it was old enough to contribute to its breed and release programme and would ultimately be released into the wild.
‘‘You can only hold North Island browns on display throughout the country, so anything that we breed here goes back to its origin back in the North Island,’’ he said.
The first priority for park staff, however, was finding out the chick’s gender — which required feather testing — and deciding on its name.
Mr Wilson said the moniker would be decided in conjunction with iwi and Doc, but he already had some inspiration.
‘‘We’ve obviously just celebrated our 40th anniversary here at the Kiwi Park, so it seems the right fit and timing to name it something to do with the 40th celebration.’’
Perhaps, then, Rūpi would be fitting if the chick turned out to be a girl.
