Night Birding

The Kiwi is such an unlikely animal. Flightless, nocturnal, and nearly blind, they're probably the least bird-like birds. They're furry, like a squirrel's tail is furry, and not at all like the fruit. They snuffle like an anteater, digging their long beak nostrils first into the ground for grubs. When startled, they leap around erratically like a bee in a bottle, banging into things.

At dusk on Kapiti Island we set out to find the rarest kiwi of them all, the Little Spotted Kiwi. Our first Kiwi turned out not to be a kiwi at all, but instead a Little Blue Penguin, tramping exhaustedly up the hill with a belly full of fish to share with his family. But then the most ridiculous thing happened. A Kiwi ran out of the bush, straight into the boot of the Welshman crouching next to me and bounced back with a hilarious little shriek. We were too delighted to move, though with his hurried movements there wasn't any chance of a photo anyway.