Kākāpō Files II

Six months after this record-breaking kākāpō breeding season began, all 91 living chicks have fledged and left the nest. The chicks remain with their kākāpō mums and are still being fed by them, as well as eating a range of plant material, and as cold wet midwinter weather sets in the chicks are learning to find dry roost sites. The Kākāpō Team’s Daryl Eason and Andrew Digby answer listener questi...

Half of the chicks from this record-breaking kākāpō breeding season have fledged and left their nests for good, but are still being fed by their mums. The tally of living chicks has dropped to 92 with the death of a chick from Te Kākahu/Chalky Island. Veterinary advisor Lydia Uddstrom reports that a 4-year-old female is being treated for cloacitis, a mysterious infection with no known cause that h...

The tally of confirmed living kākāpō chicks goes down with two further deaths, but gets a welcome boost with the confirmation of a living chick in a previously inaccessible nest. This brings the number of living chicks to 93, ranging in weight from 770 grams to nearly 2.5 kilograms. On all three kākāpō breeding islands, the oldest kākāpō chicks are fledging and leaving their nests. They are still...

Alison Ballance spends a week on Whenua Hou/Codfish Island, one of three kākāpō breeding islands. She follows rangers from DOC’s Kākāpō Recovery Programme as they go about their daily and nightly nest visits to check on the rapidly growing chicks. All but one of the 23 nests on Whenua Hou have just a single chick, as the rimu fruit has failed to ripen and kākāpō mums are relying on supplementary f...

DOC’s Kākāpō Recovery Programme says that the 2026 kākāpō breeding season is officially the biggest on record, and that all chicks have now hatched. At least 256 eggs were laid in 80 nests, of which at least 106 hatched. There are currently 99 chicks alive, three of which are being treated at the Dunedin Wildlife Hospital for various health problems. The oldest chick, Tīwhiri-A1-2026, is 46-days o...

DOC’s Kākāpō Recovery Programme is thrilled to announce the births of 101 kākāpō chicks, with a few more fertile eggs expected to hatch over the next few days. However, kākāpō conservation is a roller-coaster and seven chicks have died from illness or injury. Auckland Zoo vet Adam Naylor resuscitated one small chick using CPR and timely sutures saved the life of another; both patients recovered we...

The number of kākāpō chicks has climbed to 54, with plenty more fertile eggs still to hatch on Whenua Hou and Pukenui/Anchor Island. Remote monitoring technology shows that seven kākāpō mums on Te Kakahu/Chalky Island are likely raising chicks as well. DOC’s Kākāpō Recovery Programme is using a genetic ranking system to prioritise how much management attention each chick receives – Kākāpō Cam star...

Fourteen kākāpō chicks have hatched in wild nests, where they are being cared for by mums and foster mums. More than a hundred viable fertile eggs have already been laid, with more expected in the next couple of weeks. On Whenua Hou, fertile eggs are cared for in incubators to keep them safe and are returned to nests to hatch. DOC’s Kākāpō Recovery Programme has placed a Smart Egg in the nest of K...

The first chick of the 2026 kākāpō breeding season has successfully hatched on Pukenui/Anchor Island. DOC’s Kākāpō Recovery Programme reports that Tiwhiri-A1-2026 hatched in foster mother Yasmine’s nest on 14 February 2026 and is the first kākāpō chick in four years. Huhū-A1-2026 is due to hatch on Whenua Hou imminently. Sixty-two kākāpō nests have been found so far and the egg tally is nearly 200...

Almost 90% of adult female kākāpō of breeding age have mated so far this breeding season, and two thirds of those are nesting. Some birds have already laid a full clutch of eggs and while some clutches are 100% fertile, others are - as expected - unfortunately infertile. To date there are 55 fertile kākāpō eggs, and that number grows daily as kākāpō rangers find nests and are able to check the dev...

More than three-quarters of female kākāpō of breeding age have mated so far, and the number of nests is growing rapidly. Kākāpō operations manager Deidre Vercoe tells Alison Ballance that 101 eggs have been laid to date, and while it is early days 38 eggs are known to be fertile. As always, infertile eggs are a major problem, although science advisor Andrew Digby explains that recent research show...

The 2026 kākāpō breeding season is all systems go: nearly half of the females of breeding age have mated and so far 15 females are nesting. Technical Advisor Daryl Eason talks about record-breaking female Ongaonga who, at 4 years-old, is the youngest female kākāpō ever to breed. There are plenty of other first-time breeders as well. Six females were successfully inseminated with sperm from under-r...

There have been 24 kākāpō matings so far, and the number is increasing as mating action heats up on all three breeding islands. Deidre Vercoe, from the Kākāpō Recovery Programme, tells Alison Ballance that some 7-year-old birds from the 2019 breeding season have mated for the first time. The first female to mate this season, Pearl, has laid infertile eggs, but nightly activity monitoring shows tha...

Early bird Pearl has laid the first eggs of the 2026 kākāpō breeding season but Kākāpō Recovery Programme science advisor Andrew Digby tells Alison Ballance that it’s too soon to know if they are fertile. Youngsters Huhū and Hondy are the third pair to mate on Whenua Hou, and Heather and Bluster Murphy are the fourth. Hine Taumai and Henry are the first to mate on Anchor Island. Technical advisor...

It’s the New Year and we’re in the early days of a big kākāpō breeding season. Daryl Eason from the Kākāpō Team tells Alison Ballance that Esperance and Ian are the second kākāpō to mate, and he expects that any minute now there will be plenty more birds mating. The kākāpō population drops to 236 birds. Science advisor Andrew Digby explains why every living kākāpō has had its genome sequenced, and...

It’s nearly the New Year and we’re counting down to the start of a big kākāpō breeding season. Island ranger Maddy Whittaker tells Alison Ballance that Pearl and Boss are the first kākāpō to mate. Deidre Vercoe, operations manager for the Kākāpō Team, explains that kākāpō mums on Whenua Hou will get wrap-round support, while management on Anchor Island and Te Kakahu/Chalky Island will be more hand...

It’s the summer solstice and we are waiting for kākāpō breeding to begin. Alison Ballance chats with island ranger Maddy Whittaker, who reports that on Whenua Hou/Codfish Island all the male kākāpō are in full voice, booming all night to attract the females, who haven’t shown any interest yet. The action hasn’t yet ramped up on Anchor Island. Alison also meets three key people from the Kākāpō Team...

The Kākāpō Files returns for a second season, to follow everyone’s favourite parrot through what is predicted to be the biggest breeding season on record. Host Alison Ballance and Our Changing World’s Claire Concannon chat about what exactly is a kākāpō, discuss the conservation history of this endangered bird through the life story of two kākāpō, and discover just how big this breeding season mig...

In 2019 Alison Ballance followed the bumpy, rollercoaster ride that was the kākāpō breeding season. Now she returns, six years on, to do it all over again. We'll meet familiar characters, of both the human and bird kind, as well as new faces. Will the chicks born in 2019 start to breed? How will the team fare with a more hands-off approach? Will the deadly aspergillosis that surfaced in 2019 retur...

Claire Concannon and Dr Andrew Digby talk about all things kākāpō: that habitat trial and where the birds are now, the next breeding season, and Andrew’s hopes for the future of this iconic manu.   Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details

In July 2023 four male kākāpō were released into the fenced Sanctuary Mountain Maungatautari – part of a new habitat trial to investigate suitable locations for the growing kākāpō population. But after a further six were introduced, the kākāpō began to wander – beyond the fence. A year on, and several escapes later, what’s been learned? And what’s next for kākāpō in Maungatautari? There are plenty...

Coming soon to RNZ Podcasts is the new series Voice of Tangaroa, exploring the state of our oceans, and the extraordinary variety of life that calls it home. Released weekly from Thursday 29 February, you can find the episodes in the Voice of Tangaroa or Our Changing World podcast feed wherever you get your podcasts. Voice of Tangaroa is a joint production between RNZ's Our Changing World and...

Alison Ballance joins the kākāpō recovery team on Pukenui Anchor Island to hear how the 2021/2022 kākāpō breeding season is going. It's been very quiet on the kākāpō front for the last two years, but this year is another big one for the rare bird. In 2019, the endangered flightless night parrot had its largest breeding season on record, as recounted in the RNZ podcast series the Kākāpō Files...

The youngest kākāpō chick has passed 150 days old, bringing the number of living juveniles to 71 and the overall kākāpō population to 213, in episode 24 of the Kākāpō Files. The kākāpō population has reached a new high of 213 birds, following the largest breeding season on record. This is a significant increase from the 147 birds that were alive at the beginning of the season. The new total includ...

The kākāpō chicks are graduating to being juveniles and only seven birds are still sick with aspergillosis, in episode 23 of the Kākāpō Files. Forty-two of this year's kākāpō chicks have graduated to being juveniles. They pass this milestone when they reach 150 days old. A further 30 chicks will reach the juvenile stage over the coming weeks. Eight kākāpō chicks have been cured of aspergillos...