Footage showing a kiwi in daylight on the Heaphy Track is considered highly unusual, but further south there is a better chance of seeing the flightless bird outside the hours of darkness.

Anya Bell posted footage on YouTube of a kiwi during daylight on the track in Kahurangi National Park, in the northwest of the South Island.

Maggie Seeman, whose company Bush and Beyond Guided Walks, takes visitors through Kahurangi, said she had not heard of anyone seeing a kiwi on the Heaphy Track in the daytime before.

"But we do see them at night around the track. They are there," Seeman said.

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JOHN HAWKINS/FAIRFAX NZ Ulva Island, where it's not unknown for lucky visitors to see a kiwi in the daylight.

Kiwi were not particularly frightened of humans, and in areas where they had been re-introduced, numbers appeared to be reasonably stable.

Sometimes an animal might expose itself if it wasn't feeling particularly well, she said. "I have found moreporks out in the day, or seals that have come right up onto the beach."

There is other footage on YouTube of kiwi in the daytime, some of it from Ulva Island, near Stewart Island. Most of Ulva is part of Rakiura National Park and night visits are not allowed.

Ulva Goodwillie, who is named after the island and has run guided tours there for the past 16 years, said kiwi were seen during the day on the island but she wanted to make it clear visitors should not expect to see them.

"Yes, definitely kiwi are seen during the day, but it's random," she said. "People come down here and the only thing they want to see is kiwi on Ulva Island."

One theory for the daylight sightings of kiwi on Stewart Island was the relatively short nights at this time of year, Goodwillie said. There were also around 20,000 kiwi on Stewart Island.

"It's been very good over this last month, sighting kiwi during the day," she said. "People have got lots and lots of video, but we don't want to put it on websites because people expect it to happen."

She had seen a kiwi during daylight a few days ago. "We just sat there on the side of the track and watched this female feeding for absolutely ages. I ran out of camera memory."