Kiwi Park

Kiwi Park šŸŒæ Explore 5 acres of native bush & 20+ native bird & reptile species in the heart of Queenstown. šŸ¦‰

Last call for Bird of the Year votes šŸ—³ļøšŸ¦† Voting for Forest & Birdā€™s Bird of the Year 2026 closes at 5pm tomorrow, Sunday...
18/09/2026

Last call for Bird of the Year votes šŸ—³ļøšŸ¦†

Voting for Forest & Birdā€™s Bird of the Year 2026 closes at 5pm tomorrow, Sunday 20 September, so if you havenā€™t had your say yet, nowā€™s the time.

Obviously, weā€™d love one of your five votes to go to pāteke (brown teal).

Theyā€™re officially one of this yearā€™s ā€˜underbirdsā€™, theyā€™re classed as being in serious trouble, and theyā€™re a species weā€™re pretty attached to here at Kiwi Park through the breed-for-release work we do. šŸ’š

This year thereā€™s another layer to it too. Every candidate is also campaigning as part of a bird party, and every vote for a bird counts towards their party as well. Pāteke are proudly part of the Shore Birds crew.

But whether pāteke makes your five or not, the big thing is to get involved. Bird of the Year is fun (and slightly ridiculous) by design, but it gets people learning the names and stories of Aotearoaā€™s native birds, especially some of the lesser-known ones.

And with more than 80% of our native bird species in some or serious trouble, that attention matters quit a lot.

So go now and pick your five. And, you knowā€¦ make pāteke one of them. Obviously. šŸ˜‰

Go to Forest & Bird to vote

18/09/2026

Do you know your pāteke from your pāpango?

This year, Forest & Birdā€™s Bird of the Year has gone full election mode, with every candidate joining one of six parties.

Pāteke is part of the Shore Birds party, alongside a few other familiar faces here at Kiwi Park, including pāpango (NZ scaup), pÅ«keko, whio and pÅ«tangitangi (paradise shelduck). šŸ¦†

All very worthy birds.

But, obviously, weā€™re obliged to be a little bit biased.

Vote pāteke for Bird of the Year 2026. Only a few days left to get your vote in šŸ’š

10/09/2026

We recently popped a trail cam into Charlie and Lucyā€™s pāteke habitat to keep an eye on what they get up to when nobodyā€™s around.

And now we have a lot of pāteke footage to get through.

And look, if someone has to do it, Iā€™m happy to put my hand up. šŸ™‹šŸ½ā€ā™€ļø

For anyone wondering whoā€™s who, Charlie is the one with the green head and Lucy is the all-brown one.

07/09/2026

Weā€™re so proud to be campaign managers for pāteke in this yearā€™s Forest & Bird Bird of the Year. šŸ¦†

Theyā€™re a species very close to our hearts, and one we reckon deserves all the love and support they can get, both from the conservation community and the wider public.

So if youā€™re still deciding where your vote is goingā€¦

Vote pāteke šŸ’š

03/09/2026

Charlie might not be our most eloquent pāteke spokesperson. Lucky for him, thatā€™s what campaign managers are for. šŸ¦†

Voting for Bird of the Year is officially open, and youā€™ve got until 20 September to get your votes in.

So if Charlie hasnā€™t quite convinced you yet, give us a couple of weeks. Weā€™re working on it. šŸ˜‚

Vote pāteke

01/09/2026

We interrupt your scrolling to bring you thisā€¦

baby Kiwi!

31/08/2026

because pātekeā€¦ obviously! šŸ¦†šŸ’…šŸ¼

Voting isnā€™t quite open for Forest & Bird Bird of the year campaign but the Kiwi Park team are taking our campaign manager duties very seriously.

This year weā€™re putting our support firmly behind pāteke for Bird of the Year. And thereā€™s plenty of good reasons we want more people to know about these awesome birds.

Voting opens this Friday.

Until then, keep an eye out as we will be posting lots about these guys over the coming weeks and we hope to have your vote šŸ˜‰

28/08/2026

Meet Chloe šŸ‘‹

She first joined Kiwi Park as a volunteer back in 2022, before moving into Guest Services in 2024, becoming the team supervisor and, earlier this year, moving into our Conservation Show team, something sheā€™d been working towards for a while.

So if youā€™ve visited us over the last few years, thereā€™s a decent chance youā€™ll recognise her.

Her favourite bird is the buff weka because theyā€™re cheeky and have plenty to say. Which is actually A LOT like Chloe šŸ¤”

And her fun fact is that she technically has a small mouth because there isnā€™t enough room for all her teeth.

She definitely makes up for it in volume, though.

25/08/2026

Well, this is handy. Our favourite coworker also happens to be our candidate for Bird of the Year. šŸ¦†

Weā€™re the official campaign manager for pāteke for this yearā€™s Forest & Bird ā€˜Bird of the Yearā€™. Over the next few weeks weā€™ll be doing our best to get this small, brown, web-footed duck the attention we reckon it deserves.

Voting opens 4 September, so weā€™ve got a little time before we start asking for your help.

For now, consider this Team Pāteke reporting for duty. šŸ«”

21/08/2026

In case you missed the news

We had a wee kiwi chick hatch at the park earlier this year šŸ¤Ž

His name is Tuku Iho, meaning ā€˜handed down through generationsā€™. Itā€™s a little nod to the Wilson family, who built Kiwi Park 40 years ago and whose family still runs it today.

As you can see, heā€™s very busy doing important kiwi business. And weā€™re very busy watching him do it.

Visitors can try to spot this little floof in our nocturnal Kiwi House. Heā€™s small, fast and already pretty good at disappearing, so youā€™ll need to keep your eyes peeled. šŸ‘€

Address

Brecon Street
Queenstown
9300

Opening Hours

Monday 9:30am - 5pm
Tuesday 9:30am - 5pm
Wednesday 9:30am - 5pm
Thursday 9:30am - 5pm
Friday 9:30am - 5pm
Saturday 9:30am - 5pm
Sunday 9:30am - 5pm

Telephone

+6434428059

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