Photo by Mehgan Murphy, courtesy National Zoo

Break out the pink bows, the National Zoo’s newly hatched brown kiwi chick is a girl. While the little bird hatched a few weeks ago, the Zoo announced just yesterday that they’ve determined its gender. The Zoo is excited about this for a number of reasons, including the fact that “there are more than twice as many male brown kiwis outside New Zealand as female” and the new chick’s father (named Maori) is a wild-caught bird, so this little chick is another opportunity for his genes to be passed on. The Zoo also shared the news that another kiwi egg has been laid, hopefully to hatch later in the summer. Check out the Zoo’s kiwi page for the latest, or stop by the live kiwi web cam. Unfortunately, last we checked the web cam was broadcasting a very empty nest… or perhaps a rare invisible species of kiwi?