Kiwis on the Coromandel are fighting back. Their numbers have been halving every 10 years, but in Coromandel's Moehau mountains they are now doubling every six-to-eight years.
Trapping and monitoring have made the area the most successful wild habitat for kiwis on the mainland.
The mountains on are now the most successful wild habitat for kiwi on the mainland, but that does not make them any easier to find.
Tommy Herbert is part of the Moehau success story. He and his dog, Piri, track and monitor North Island brown kiwis.
This time they have found a five-year-old male called Rehua, who they have met before.
"He's taken over this territory that used to belong to another bird that got killed by a dog, so he's moved in here," says Mr Herbert.
Wandering dogs are one of the biggest threats to kiwis, and the Moehau Kiwi Sanctuary is offering kiwi aversion training for them. Five hundred dogs have been through it this year, and gained a special certificate.
"People need it to acquire a hunting permit," says Richard Goomes, Dept of Conservation (DoC). "Most of the dogs that are out there in the bush are pig dogs, hunters' dogs, so the department requires them to get a kiwi aversion certificate before they can obtain a hunting permit."
The Moehau mountains kiwi success story is largely the result of trapping and monitoring.
"We've reached a real milestone on Moehau," says DoC's Paul Gasson. "We've got a recipe for predator control that we know works. We no longer need to have transmitters on a lot of kiwi to prove that, means we're able to free up resources."
Kiwi do not spend all their lives living underground in burrows - they get around. One from this area is believed to have travelled nearly 100km overland.
Mr Herbert says kiwis like Rehua definitely have personalities.
"In fact one year I thought he was nesting, so I went and had a look, and in fact he was trying to hatch some stones – practising, having a practise."
DoC is now removing the last transmitters from kiwi in the Moehau mountains, but who needs transmitters when you have got master trackers like Tommy and Piri?
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