WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) – The world’s only flightless parrot species was once thought doomed by design. The kakapo is too heavy, slow and, to be honest, too cute to survive around predators, and takes a shameless approach to breeding.
But the fate of New Zealand’s nocturnal and resident bird is looking up for survival after an unexpected conservation effort pushed its population from 50 to more than 200 in three decades. This year, with a bumper crop of the parrot’s favorite berries causing an unusual mating frenzy, those working to save the birds are hoping for a record number of chicks in February, bringing the kakapo closer to defying what was once thought to be extinct.
Kakapo live on three small, remote islands off the south coast of New Zealand and the chances of seeing them in the wild are very low. This breeding season introduced one of the birds that will become an internet sensation with a live video of its underground nest, where its chick hatched on Tuesday.
Stink parrots the size of small cats
The kakapo is an amazing creature that can live for 60 to 80 years. But there is no doubt that they are strange to watch.
Birds can weigh more than 3 kilograms (6.6 pounds). They have owl-like faces, whiskers, and mottled green, yellow, and black feathers that mimic the fading light of the forest floor.
This is where the flying parrot lives, which has made its life difficult.
“Kakapo also have a really strong smell,” said Deidre Vercoe, operations manager for the Department of Conservation’s kakapo program. “They’re smelly and they’re fruity – a sweet smell.”
The smell was bad news for parrots when people arrived in New Zealand hundreds of years ago. The introduction of rats, dogs, cats and rodents, along with human hunting and destruction of native forest habitats, drove the country’s thriving flightless bird species—kakapos among them—to near extinction or extinction.
In 1974, no kakapo was known to exist. Conservationists kept looking, however, and in the late 1970s, a new population of birds was discovered.
Getting their fortunes back has not been easy.
Birds wait years or decades to breed
One of the reasons kakapos grow so slowly is that their breeding is different, as with all things bird-related. Years or decades can pass between successful eggs.
The breeding season occurs every two to four years, due to the large harvest of the fruit of the rimu trees, which are popular with parrots, and the last one occurred in 2022. A large food source is needed for the chicks to survive but it is not well known how the older birds realize the large harvest.
“They’re probably up in the canopy inspecting the fruit,” Vercoe said. “If there’s a big crop growing, they kind of listen to that.”
This is where things get really weird. The male kakapo positions itself in dug-out pots and emits rapid high-pitched sounds followed by sounds known as “chings,” which sound like the rustling of rusting saplings.
Deep booms, which on a clear night can be heard throughout the forest, attract the female kakapo to the bowls. Females can lay up to four eggs before raising their chicks alone.
Since January, bird enthusiasts have had a rare glimpse of the process through a live stream showing the underground nest of 23-year-old kakapo Rakiura on Whenua Hou Island, where she laid three eggs, two of which were fertile. The life of this species is so dangerous that the eggs are replaced by fakes while the real ones are kept indoors.
On Tuesday, the technician replaced the fake eggs with the original ones that were almost hatched. The kakapo stayed away while the switch was made but quickly returned to the nest, seemingly undisturbed. The chick hatched just after an hour. A second real egg is expected to be added within days.
Native birds are popular in New Zealand
Perhaps the only thing less known than the kakapo is the lengths to which New Zealanders went to save it. A quadrupling of the population in the last three decades has required them to move to remote, predator-free islands off the coast and the parrots’ limited control of all romantic trappings.
“We’re doing everything we can to make sure we don’t lose any more genetic diversity,” Vercoe said. “We manage that very carefully by having the best games on each island.”
Each bird has a name and is monitored by a small backpack tracker; if a bird disappears, they probably can’t find it. With the kakapo still critically endangered, it is unlikely that conservation efforts will end anytime soon, although those who work with the birds are making it easier to manage the birds during each breeding season.
The hard work of conserving these animals may seem strange to outsiders, but the parrot is one of the most spirited and rare birds in a country where birds reign supreme. The only land mammals are two species of bats, so New Zealand’s birds, which appeared shortly before the arrival of man and their predators, have become a beloved national symbol.
“We don’t have the Eiffel Tower or the towers, but we do have kakapo and kiwi,” said Vercoe. “It’s a real New Zealand mission to save these birds.”
