Wild kiwi have been hosted at the Beehive for the first time to celebrate the 250th national bird being released into Wellington's hills.
Capital Kiwi translocated its last few kiwi in the capital last week with the help of sites including Sanctuary Mountain Maungatautari, the Taranaki Kōhanga Kiwi at Rotokare Project, and Ōtorohanga Kiwi House.
"For the team, we've been working on this for a decade, and committed our working and family lives to doing this," Capital Kiwi project founder Paul Ward said.
The first kiwi was released in Wellington in 2022 – around a century after the birds were last seen in the capital.
To mark the 250 birds being released, some were hosted at Banquet Hall on Monday night after special permission was granted by Parliament's Speaker Gerry Brownlee.
"This is the first time that kiwi have been able to come in to te Whare Pāremata," Conservation Minster Tama Potaka said.
The only other time something similar has happened was in 2014, when then Conservation Minister Maggie Barry hosted a kākāpō at Parliament.
Rangatahi had a front row seat.
Ward said growing up in Johnsonville, he saw only "blackbirds and rabbits and possums – the whole cast of Beatrix Potter".
"I don't think I had a single experience of indigenous manu in my backyard."
In the last few years, kiwi have been spotted in Wellingtonians' backyards and recorded travelling far from their release locations.
Across 24,000 hectares of mostly private land around Wellington city, a 5300-strong trap network covered farms, forestry, national power infrastructure, reserves, and suburban fringe over an area larger than Abel Tasman National Park.
"If we can successfully bring wild kiwi home to our capital city after 150 years of extinction, what other challenges can we meet by working together?" Ward said.
With the project's Department of Conservation permit now complete, Capital Kiwi was setting its sights on another species.
"We're in discussions with DOC and with iwi around some of those species. I can give a little clue – one of them is a daytime option," Ward said.
An announcement on exactly what species will be chosen is expected later this year.
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