Stewart Island Kiwi. One of my all time favorite wildlife experiences happened with one of these adorable birds. I went out walking at 5am looking for one of these mostly nocturnal birds in an isolated and remote corner of Stewart Island. As I walk down the trail with a flashlight, I hear footsteps like thump thump thump THUMP running up right behind me. My heart raced and I got chills. That's really not what you want to hear out in the woods at night. But when I looked back, there was one of these harmless and curious kiwi birds standing right behind me looking right at me. Here is a short video of one of the other Kiwi birds we saw that day.
Rakiura National Park - Stewart Island, New Zealand Jan 2012