In most of New Zealand, finding a kiwi in daylight requires either a specific conservation programme or an exceptional amount of patience. Stewart Island is different. The Rakiura tokoeka is active during the day more often than any other kiwi species, partly because the southern summer nights are very short and foraging time has to go somewhere, and partly because this island retains enough intact forest and low predator pressure that a kiwi can afford to be somewhat less cautious than its mainland relatives. Tokoeka are the largest of the southern brown kiwi, and Stewart Island birds are substantial animals. Females can weigh over three kilograms. The plumage is rufous-brown with darker streaking, the bill long and pale, and the gait that purposeful kiwi waddle which covers ground more efficiently than it looks like it should. Unlike most kiwi, some Stewart Island birds live in extended family groups, with an alpha pair and several helpers that assist with territory defence and occasionally with incubation. This arrangement is unusual for a bird whose nearest relatives insist on pair-only territoriality, and it has not been fully explained. The island accommodates a wide range of habitats for a single species. Birds occupy coastal forest, sand dunes along the western shore, tussock grassland on the Tin Range, and scrubby vegetation at mid-altitude. Territory sizes vary accordingly, from around five hectares in productive tussock to fifty hectares on the sand dunes where food is more thinly distributed. The southern two-thirds of the island carries the highest densities, with birds present throughout the year in numbers that make chance encounters during daylight walks at Mason Bay more rule than exception. The threat picture on Stewart Island is unusual for kiwi because the main South Island predators, stoats and ferrets, are largely absent. Feral cats are present and kill some birds, but the impact appears modest compared to the stoat pressure affecting mainland populations. The real vulnerability is the population's lack of experience with stoats: a naive population encountering them for the first time would have no effective behavioural response. Biosecurity, preventing stoat and ferret incursion by ship or floating debris, is accordingly a priority. A population at Mason Bay has been declining as former farmland reverts from rough pasture to flax and scrub, reducing open feeding ground. The rest of the island appears stable. An estimated 13,000 to 20,000 birds make this the most numerous tokoeka taxon, though that number carries an implied condition: the ongoing biosecurity work that makes it possible.