Where Do Kiwi Birds Live? North Island brown kiwi. Image credit: Lakeview Images The kiwi are native only to the country of New Zealand. There are five different species of kiwi. Kiwi are nocturnal, which means that they are generally active at night, and asleep during the day. The kiwi is an endangered species. Kiwis, an icon of New Zealand, are flightless birds endemic to the country. About the size of a domestic chicken, kiwis are the smallest extant ratites (a bird group including several flightless birds like ostriches, cassowaries, emus, etc.). There are five species of kiwis, of which four species are threatened (listed as Vulnerable on the IUCN Red List) and one is near-threatened.