A rowi, or Okarito, kiwi chick had hatched at about 7am, the 50th rowi chick born at the centre this season.
Named "Eggnog" by the ranger team of four, who work full time on the hatching programme, the chick took five days to hatch after 77 days of incubation, and weighed 316g.
West Coast Wildlife Centre kiwi husbandry manager Nicki van Zyl said she arrived about 7.30am and he had already hatched.
"So he was a bit of a Christmas gift for those of us working on Christmas Day."
West Coast Wildlife Centre director and owner Richard Benton said he set up the centre in November 2010 "because I wanted to make a conservation difference".
Department of Conservation South Westland operations manager Wayne Costello said there were only 165 adult rowi kiwi in 1995, and it was classified as endangered, but now there are 450 birds and its status had been upgraded to vulnerable.
"That’s through the great work we’ve achieved with our partners — the centre, local iwi and Willowbank Wildlife Reserve."
The West Coast Wildlife Centre incubates both rowi kiwi eggs and Haast tokoeka kiwi eggs (the second-rarest kiwi).
The kiwi eggs are vulnerable to predation by introduced stoats and are removed from the forest by Doc staff and transferred to the centre for safe hatching.
Three weeks after hatching, the young kiwi are transferred to Willowbank for another three weeks before being transferred to pest free islands for a year.
When the kiwis are a year old and big enough to fight off stoats, they are released back into the Okarito forest near Franz Josef.
"Eggnog is in excellent condition, is doing everything by the textbook, is all fluffy and really cute," Ms van Zyl said.
She said another nine eggs incubating and the centre was expecting more eggs from the forest, to bring the number of eggs hatched at the centre this season to an estimated 80.
"Even though you do it every day, it is still really special when you walk in in the morning and there is a little chick waiting for you to take him to the next stage of his life," she said.
"It really is amazing to be part of such a special programme, saving two of New Zealand’s rarest kiwis," she said.
