Kākāpō Files II

Kākāpō Numbers Soar

The biggest kākāpō season on record has come to an end, with a bumper number of chicks reaching the milestone of 150 days old. The 90 chicks have boosted the kākāpō popul

Kākāpō Goings On

The oldest chick of the 2026 kākāpō breeding season, Tiwhiri-A1 has reached 150 days old and can be officially counted. This milestone increases the kākāpō population by

Good Kākāpō Things Take Time

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

Kākāpō Adoption Birds

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

Kākāpō Chicks Growing Up

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 inaccessib

Kākāpō Island Diary

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 abou

Biggest Kākāpō Breeding Season

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 wer

Kākāpō Birth Notices

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, k

Lots of Kākāpō Babies

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 th

Kākāpō Baby Boom

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,

The First Chick

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

Nesting Time

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

Peak Breeding

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 Ali

Full Steam Ahead

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

Kākāpō Action Heating Up

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 Pr

The First Nest

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

Any Minute Now

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 secon

Kākāpō Countdown

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

Meet the Team

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

The Birds Are Back

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 Bal