Contributed by Millennium Rotorua Executive Assistant, Ms Jolene Gray.

Millennium Rotorua has been a keen supporter of Wingspan Birds of Prey Trust since 2009, when the hotel first took on sponsorship of Millie the New Zealand falcon (named after ‘Millennium Falcon’ for Star Wars fans).

Over the years, the hotel staff grew very attached to Millie and visited her regularly at her Wingspan’s headquarters and watched her flying display. Due to deteriorating eyesight and old age, Millie was sadly put down earlier this year. She was born in October 2006.

Then came the fantastic news on the opportunity to adopt a new falcon, and Millennium Rotorua was quick to take the young chick under its wing. She is a five-month old New Zealand falcon (or kārearea in Maori language), which is the country’s most threatened bird of prey.

A naming competition was held on Facebook, which saw over 200 beautiful, inspirational, and some really funny name suggestions. The hotel eventually settled on the name Hiwa, after Hiwa-i-te-rangi, one of the stars in the Matariki star cluster.

The inspiration for the name came from a Facebook suggestion to name her ‘Starr’. The hotel felt that it was a great idea to name the falcon chick Hiwa, as New Zealand had just entered the season of Matariki, which symbolises the start of a new year in Maori culture.

The hotel is happy to welcome Hiwa to the Millennium Rotorua family, and staff are excited to meet her at the Wingspan centre in days to come.