Kiwi are burrowers and birds can have as many as 50 dotted across their territory.  Sometimes, after a night’s feeding, the birds will quickly clean out a cavity and crash there during the day, moving on to new sleeping quarters the next day.

When a kiwi sleeps, like many birds it often turns its head back against its body and tucks its head under its wing.  However, unlike other birds that have big wings and small beaks, this posture can make the kiwi look slightly ridiculous – its 20-centimetre beak does not easily tuck under the tiny crooked stump of its vestigial wing.

Different Types of Burrow

Burrows take many forms, depending on the species and the location.  It may be dug in the earth of a bank or slope, the kiwis using their strong legs and claws to loosen the earth and push it out and away from the entrance.

Or their day shelter may be in a hollow tree, under a log, in a rock crack or within a dense clump of vegetation.

Great Spotted Kiwi prefer dens to simple burrows.  Unlike the Little Spotted Kiwi and the Brown Kiwi which tend toward simple one-entrance burrows, the Great Spotted Kiwi will put time and effort into constructing a labyrinth of tunnels several metres long, and with more than one exit. 

Nesting Burrows

Kiwi may dig their nesting burrows up to two months before the first egg is laid.  Sometimes they use an existing nest.

The burrow is usually lined with an untidy nest of soft leaves, grass and moss. When they are inside, kiwi often pull leaves and sticks across the entrance to camouflage it and retain heat and moisture.

Next: The birds mate