The kakapo is a large, nocturnal, flightless, lek-breeding parrot a real oddity.
It is also critically endangered, and the focus of considerable conservation attention.
Before humans arrived it was common throughout New Zealand’s forests, but predation by introduced mammals brought it to the brink of extinction a low point of about 50 birds only in the mid 1990s.
The transfer of the whole population to predator-free islands and intensive intervention in every stage of its life has led to a steady increase in numbers.
Kakapo have no close relatives.
A large flightless forest-dwelling parrot, with a pale owl-like face.
Kakapo are moss green mottled with yellow and black above, and similar but more yellow below.
The bill is grey, and the legs and feet grey with pale soles.
Voice: males make a deep booming call (“booming”) and a loud wheezing call (“chinging”) to attract mates to their leks. Both sexes make a loud high pitched skraak call (“skraaking”).
Similar species: kaka and kea are the only species with which kakapo might be confused,
but their moss green colour, large size, flightlessness and nocturnal habits make them easy to distinguish.
It is also very unlikely that any kakapo exist other than at a few managed sites, and so the chances of misidentification are very low.
– Distribution and habitat – Once found throughout New Zealand, kakapo started declining in range and abundance after the arrival of Maori.
They disappeared from the North Island by about 1930, but persisted longer in the wetter parts of the South Island.
The last birds died out in Fiordland in the late 1980s.
A population of less than two hundred birds was discovered on Stewart Island in 1977, but this population was also declining due to cat predation.
During the 1980s and 1990s the entire known population was transferred to Whenua Hou/Codfish Island off the coast of Stewart Island, Maud Island in the Marlborough Sounds and Hauturu/Little Barrier Island in the Hauraki Gulf.
Since then birds have been moved between Whenua Hou, Maud Island and Hauturu, as well as to and from newly predator-free Chalky and Anchor Islands in Fiordland.
Kakapo now occur only on forested islands, though they previously appeared to have inhabited a wide range of vegetation types.
– Behaviour and ecology – Kakapo are nocturnal and solitary, occupying the same home range for many years.
They forage on the ground and climb high into trees. They often leap from trees and flap their wings, but at best manage a controlled plummet.
– Food – Kakapo are entirely vegetarian.
Their diet includes, leaves, buds, flowers, fern fronds, bark, roots, rhizomes, bulbs, fruit and seeds. Diet varies seasonally.
– Breeding – Kakapo breed in summer and autumn, but only in years of good fruit abundance.
On islands in southern New Zealand they breed when the rimu trees fruit, which is once every 2 to 4 years.
Elsewhere in New Zealand they probably nested when southern beech seeded, but the triggers for breeding in some northern places, including Hauturu, are unknown.
Kakapo are lek breeders. Males call from track-and-bowl systems to attract females for mating.
Males play no part in incubation or chick-rearing.
The nests are on or under the ground in natural cavities or under dense vegetation.
The 1-4 eggs are laid in a shallow depression in the soil or rotten wood, which is repeatedly turned-over before and during incubation.
– Population – A total of 210 birds was known in June 2020.
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