Twelve curious kākā flock back to Abel Tasman coastline

Tuesday, 24 September 2019

A flock of inquisitive kākā have returned to the coastline of the Abel Tasman National Park, another step in the vision towards re-populating the park with bird species that once lived there.

On Tuesday, 12 captive-raised kākā were released from a purpose-built aviary in Bark Bay. Until recently the parrots were considered 'technically extinct' in the Abel Tasman with only a few wild male kākā remaining in the park.

Several captive raised female birds were released higher up in the park in 2015 and last summer six chicks fledged, proof that they could not only survive, but that they could successfully pair up and breed with wild birds.

Project Janszoon ornithologist Ron Moorhouse said the birds were a mixed flock, some had come from established, captive bred kākā while others had been raised from eggs gathered in the wild to ensure their genetic diversity.

**READ MORE:

* Discussions begin to bring kiwi back to Abel Tasman

* Kākā chicks hand-raised at Natureland to boost native parrot population

* Wild and captive-raised kākā successfully breed in Abel Tasman

* Project Janszoon: Looking back on five years in the park**

'This park is an intensively managed habitat and kākā have been noticeably absent from it and we hope that will now change.'

Three of the birds released were hand-reared at Natureland in Nelson from eggs harvested from a wild nest. 

Another 12 captive-raised kākā would be released at Bark Bay next month and the 24 birds would form the nucleus of a new population, with a female kākā having the ability to raise four chicks in a good breeding season.

Moorhouse said it was great to be able to release the birds into the forest where they could learn how to be kākā. 

Kākā are a common sight in Wellington having spread from wildlife sanctuary Zealandia in Karori and Moorhouse said he hoped the birds would disperse throughout the Abel Tasman National Park in a similar way. 

As part of Project Janszoon's education programme, local schools can adopt a section of the park and assist with its management. Ngatimoti School adopted Bark Bay and students have been learning about kākā in the lead up to their release.

Louie Burger, 11, said kākā were curious birds and it was important not to feed them.

'Even if you just feed them once they remember, they have a memory like an elephant and they will make the link in their brain as they are smart birds they will figure out if tourists give them food they will come back and ask for more food.'

Department of Conservation biodiversity ranger John Henderson said signage had been put up in Bark Bay to remind people not to feed the kākā.

Their natural diet was made up of berries, seeds and honeydew and it was important the birds were left to their own devices to find food as that was crucial to their survival in the wild. 

Each bird had a radio transmitter and Henderson said they would be regularly tracked in the coming weeks, to see what they were up to and how they had dispersed.

The kākā were blessed by local iwi before being released. Rima Piggot of Te Runanga o Ngāti Rārua said iwi were proud to be involved in the return of another taonga species to the Abel Tasman National Park.

Project Janszoon director Bruce Vander-Lee said the kākā released on Tuesday were coming up to a year old, the same age as the chicks which hatched in the park last year.

There was an extensive trapping programme in the park which meant the birds were being released into a very safe environment, he said. 

There were a number of wilding pines in various states of decay around Bark Bay that would be a food source for kākā, which is one of the reasons the site had been chosen. 

'It's always been our vision that people can see the change that Project Janszoon and DOC are making and this is an example, we are on the coast with one of the most iconic parrots in the country and it is a huge milestone in terms of our vision.'