No more room on predator-free islands as Kākāpō population explodes

Saturday, 9 February 2019

Jo Leadington DOC Senior Ranger Kakapo talks about the recovery programme in Invercargill

The breeding season for Kākāpō is in full swing, with a record number of chicks expected to hatch.

As of February 8th, 151 eggs have been laid, and they're not done yet. This is in contrast with 2016, where only 122 eggs were laid during the whole season.

The current population of 147 Kākāpō live offshore on small, predator-free islands such as Whenua Hou, Pukenui and Hauturu.

With a population boost expected, the Department of Conservation are now facing the problem of where to place the new arrivals.

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Kākāpō Ranger Bronwyn Jeynes said they have their eyes on a few options and are weighing up the pros and cons of each island.

A big breeding season is expected to boost the endangered Kākāpō population.

'The islands are full. We have to find new homes that are predator-free, as Kākāpō have real trouble surviving in locations with introduced predators.'

She said the mainland would be an option in the future if the population continued to rise.

DoC would not specify which islands are being looked at.

Some chicks will be moved to Dunedin to be hand-reared by professionals.

Breeding this year is expected to reach record numbers due to the Kākāpō recovery programme, which will allow Kākāpō to lay eggs more than once.

Usually, DoC will take the eggs, incubate them (as they have a better chance of survival that way), replace the real eggs with dummy ones so that the mother can prepare for their arrival and then put the real ones back before they hatch.

This year, due to such early breeding, they have taken the first set of laid eggs away to hand-rear them and closed the nests.

This encourages the Kākāpō to go out and mate again, creating a second round of eggs that will be brought up on the islands.

Jeynes said the Kākāpō chicks are doing really well, putting on weight and starting to look cute and fluffy.

The latest addition is Waa-4-a-2019, who was born on Friday morning.

Twelve eggs have hatched so far, with 43 viable eggs laid and the potential for more to come.

The #kakapo chicks on Whenua Hou are all doing well, being fed every two hours. Here's one post-feed. #kakapo #conservation 2019 pic.twitter.com/96fGAPGgsd

— Dr Andrew Digby (@takapodigs) February 7, 2019