Kākāpō Files II

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 food to raise their chicks. During the week, the chick Queenie-A3 is found dead, and there is news from Pukenui/Anchor Island of another chick dying in a flash flood that swept through the nest.
Send any Kākāpō Files questions and comments to [email protected].
In this episode:
00:00 – Introduction
01:12 – Sick chick Pearl-B3
05:32 – Chick check at Suzanne’s nest
09:53 – Young male booming
11:18 – qPCR sex testing
14:11 – Chick check at Tiaka’s nest
17:44 - Dead chick Queenie-A3
20:16 - Nest controller and the ‘train station’
24:18 – Supplementary feeding
27:25 – Chick dies in nest flood
29:05 – Heather’s nest check & closing thoughts
33:42 - Update on Pearl-B3
35:22 - Closing credits…
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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 old and weighs 1.8 kg, while the youngest chick, Awarua-A3-2026, weighs 26 grams at 2-days old. Operations manager Deidre Vercoe says that preliminary sexing results show that about 40 percent of the chicks are female, and that rangers are starting to give the older chicks a permanent microchip for identification.
Send any Kākāpō Files questions and comments to [email protected].
In this episode:
00:00 – Introduction
01:16 – Deidre Vercoe with final nest and egg numbers
05:41 – Final chick hatching numbers
11:09 – Planning ahead
13:45 – Dunedin Wildlife Hospital vet Dr Lisa Argilla
20:32 – Rimu fruiting & its role in breeding
27.30 – Supplementary feeding on Whenua Hou
32:10 - Closing credits
…
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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 well and are back in the nest with their kākāpō mother or foster mother. Scientist Andrew Digby reports that egg fertility was similar on the two main breeding islands, Whenua Hou and Pukenui/Anchor Island, and that artificial insemination has had a significant positive effect, improving the fertility of eggs.
Send any Kākāpō Files questions and comments to [email protected]
In this episode:
00:00 – Introduction
01:02 - Death of male Matamua
02:21 – Auckland Zoo vet Adam Naylor on Kākāpō ER
09:03 - Sarah Manktelow with egg and chick updates
13:32 – Chicks in hospital
16:43 – Updates on Alison, Queenie & Cyndy, & Tiwhiri-A1
21:58 - Andrew Digby on egg fertility across islands
26:24 - AI has improved fertility of eggs
29:58 - Closing credits…
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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 Rakiura, for instance, is foster mum to a silver chick and also a gold chick. The oldest chick, Tiwhiri-A1, is ranked gold and a ground-breaking new portable PCR that allows rapid sex-testing of chicks on the islands has shown that he is a male.
Send any Kākāpō Files questions and comments to [email protected]
In this episode:
00:00 – Introduction
01:00 - Maddy Whittaker with egg and chick updates
03:50 – Males are stopping booming
08:00 – Rimu fruit ripening
08:40 – Chick and hatching deaths
09:30 – Updates on Alison, Queenie & Cyndy, & Tiwhiri-A1
14:46 - Andrew Digby on genetic ranking system for chicks
21:20 – Sex-testing chicks using PCR
25:25 – Alyssa Salton with kākāpō egg 101
29:58 - Closing credits…
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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 Kākāpō Cam star Rakiura, to alert her to the imminent arrival of a pipping egg whose hatching should delight the many fans watching the live video feed. Pukenui/Anchor Island is home to the most kākāpō chicks so far but kākāpō rangers expect Whenua Hou to catch up soon.
Send any Kākāpō Files questions and comments to [email protected]
In this episode:
00:00 – Introduction
01:15 – Night-time visit to Rakiura’s nest
07:26 - The egg room
11:43 - Seabird danger to eggs
13:05 - Smart Eggs
14:54 – Nest and egg updates
20:20 - Closing credits…
Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details