The Department of Conservation has secured funding for a project to monitor and record kiwi calls, to find out more about the bird population.
The project will involve recording devices, placed on trees, that will switch on during the night when the birds are active.
Researchers usually sit in the bush for up to three nights and make a manual count of the number of times they hear the call of the kiwi.
The leader of the Department of Conservation's national kiwi recovery group, Avi Holzapsel, says it is difficult to keep track of the birds.
He says listening to their calls is a way of finding out whether their population is declining, or increasing, and whether any of the birds are in trouble.
