Workers at a sawmill near Whangārei had a surprise visitor to their workshop - a fully grown kiwi.
Lucas James, a sparkie at Rosvall Sawmill, in Whareora, said the kiwi wandered into the mill on Monday morning and spent a few hours exploring before seeking out a dark spot under a workbench.
"I was still bleary-eyed, early in the morning, and was using the drill press in the workshop when I heard a scuttle behind me," he said.
"I turned around and there was a big kiwi running around the middle of the workshop. So I called all the guys, we had a look, and sort of panicked. We didn't know what to do."
They closed the workshop doors to stop it into wandering into any machinery and called a few experts for advice, including the local Department of Conservation (DOC) office.
"They took a couple of hours to come out so the first three hours of my Monday morning I was on kiwi watch, making sure it didn't get out and get squashed by anything."
The bird appeared unperturbed by its unusual surroundings, James said.
"For a start, it was quite curious, it just cruised around for a bit. But as more people came in, it got a bit stressed, so we left it alone, it ran around for a bit and found a dark corner in the workshop and sat there for a couple of hours."
James said it was the first time he had seen the flightless national icon.
"It really surprised me how big they are. I'm not a short guy and it came up to my knees, so it was quite a big creature."
He was surprised the kiwi sought out a sawmill, and could only guess it had been chased by a dog and was looking for a place to hide.
"It's quite a noisy place and there's big forklifts going around everywhere. It's the last place I'd expect to see a kiwi running around. It was a really cool experience," James said.
DOC Whangārei operations manager Joel Lauterbach said he was grateful to the team at Rosvall Sawmill for their commitment to Northland's native wildlife, and for alerting rangers to the curious kiwi.
"After a thorough check-up, our little adventurer received a clean bill of health and was released into the safety of Mt Tiger, an area with strong predator control and dedicated dog control close to the sawmill. There she'll be safe to roam and continue her adventures."
Lauterbach said Whareora Landcare Group had been working hard for the past 15 years to help their small local kiwi population flourish.
With support from Kiwi Coast, Backyard Kiwi, DOC and Northland Regional Council, the volunteers had trapped close to 25,000 animal pests since 2009.
Lauterbach said the wild-born female kiwi was about five years old.
Its survival was testament to the volunteer group's efforts because in areas without pest control, stoats killed 95 percent of kiwi chicks in their first year.
"What attracted the kiwi to the sawmill is unknown, but thanks to the swift action of everyone involved, she is now back where she belongs."
He advised anyone who spotted a kiwi where it was unsafe or in a place it should not be, to call the 24-hour hotline 0800 DOC HOT.
As Northland's kiwi population increases in areas with pest control, once-rare encounters with the national bird are becoming more common.
On 23 December last year, Waipapa resident Jane Jackets found a young kiwi asleep in a chicken nesting box.
It remains a mystery how the kiwi managed to get inside the coop.
And in February this year, another curious kiwi almost came to grief when it stumbled into a swimming pool filter at Opito Bay, near Kerikeri.
RNZ
