Kiwi in ferns

who am I kidding – this little guy really needs no introduction! Meet my version of the north Island little brown kiwi amongst fern fronds.

This image to me symbolises pride, hope, strength and rejuvenation does it mean to you?

Fun facts:

• The kiwi is the only bird in the world that has nostrils at the tip of its bill. Also technically the SHORTEST beak in the world because length of beak is measured from nostril to the tip of the beak

• The kiwi has the second largest egg for body size of any bird—an average of 15 percent of her body weight, compared to only 2 percent in the ostrich.

• It has tiny wings, but cannot fly. It has loose feathers that are more like fur.

• Kiwi can live for between 25 and 50 years.

• The brown kiwi is the only bird known in which both the left and the right ovaries consistently occur—most birds have only one.

• We’re losing 2% of our unmanaged kiwi every year – that’s around 20 per week.

Kiwi are our nations beloved icon, and there are many myths about the kiwi, I am not sure where they originate but my favorite is:

Tane-mahuta, god of the forest, was worried about his children (the trees) because they were getting eaten by the bugs and birds. Upset he talked to his brother Tane-hokahoka, god of the birds, who asked his children to come down from the forest roof and live on the floor but each had an excuse. ; the Tui was scared of the darkness, the Pukeko didn’t like the dampness, and every other bird came up with an excuse. It wasn’t until the Kiwi answered “I will”. To save the trees he had to give up his beautiful wings and choose to stay on the ground away from his brothers. As a reward for his sacrifice, Tane-hokahoka promised to make him the most well-known and best-loved bird of all.

I chose to base the ferns off of the wheki punga which is one of the main 3 hairy fern trees we have in New Zealand, many other species are either smooth or have a type of scale and since kiwi birds are almost furry I felt this was a better pairing.

We have about 200 species of fern in New Zealand, ranging from 10 m high tree ferns to filmy ferns just 20 mm long. About 40% of these species occur nowhere else in the world.

Interestingly almost all ferns are carcinogenic and there are actually only about 7 species of which the Pikopiko (fern shoots) which are edible.

Koru (the unfolding fern leaf) symbolises new life, growth, strength and peace.