The rest of our day was free. I chose to visit the Kiwi Birdlife Park, which was just a ten-minute walk from my hotel, and took a self-guided audio tour.
The kiwi is a flightless bird native to New Zealand (New Zealanders are often called “kiwis”). As kiwis are nocturnal, they are kept in darkened houses. I did manage to spot two nosing around the ground in one of the houses (yes, they have nostrils!), but unfortunately I could not take pictures (photography forbidden as the flash disturbs the birds). This photo is of the giant kiwi statue in Queenstown. Scale it mentally down to about 17-18 inches for an adult bird, and this is what it looks like.
Fortunately there were plenty of opportunities to take photos of the many other beautiful native birds in the park.
Red Crowned Parakeets
Kea – an intelligent inquisitive parrot known to get into mischief like chewing on windshield wipers on cars. There were toys in his enclosure. A sign explained that the toys were there to keep him out of trouble!
Blue Duck
Black Stilt
Yellow Crowned Parakeets
New Zealand Falcon
Tui – I had previously spotted one in Bush City at the Te Papa Museum in Wellington
Brown Teals
Tane Mahuta
Maori hunting tools
Campbell Island Teals
Antipodes Island Parakeet
Weka (Maori Hen)
Maori flax exhibit
Maori cooking exhibit
New Zealand Pigeon (Kereru or Wood Pigeon) – the world’s second largest pigeon averaging about 20 inches in length
Tuatara – the park’s own “living dinosaur”