Critically endangered parrots die in Christchurch captive breeding program

Friday, 5 February 2021

A wild kākāriki karaka in the Hurunui South Branch area.

Seventeen critically endangered orange-fronted parakeet chicks have died of heat stress after temperatures reaches 37 degrees Celsius in parts of Christchurch last week.

The birds were part of a captive breeding program at The Isaac Conservation and Wildlife Trust’s (ICWT) facility in the city, which has been breeding the rare birds for release since 2003.

Kākāriki karaka are the rarest parakeet species in New Zealand, with just 300 birds left in the wild.

The bulk of the population live around the southern branch of Canterbury’s Hurunui River in Lake Sumner Forest Park, or on Blumine Island in the Marlborough Sounds.

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Department of Conservation (DOC) eastern South Island operations director Nicola Toki said there can be unexpected setbacks while working to save a species.

“While any kākāriki karaka deaths are a tragedy, this is a small setback for the breeding programme, as those pairs that lost chicks are expected to breed again this season.

“The trust’s captive programme has raised more than 500 kākāriki that have boosted the wild population. Without their efforts, we expect the birds would already be extinct in the wild.”

The southern branch of the Hurunui River, where most of the remaining wild kākāriki live.

Ngāi Tahu’s kākāriki species recovery representative Yvette Couch-Lewis said the deaths highlight how fragile the birds are, and how difficult they are to breed in captivity.

“However, we are reliant on this breeding program, and we will work with [the trust] on ways to mitigate future risks to the species.

“We will continue to support [them] to protect this critically endangered taonga species and work in partnership with DOC to see the kākāriki once again flourishing. That is our dream.”

Toki said the trust did everything it could to manage temperatures during the hot spell.

ICWT has a sprinkler system in the aviaries that is used whenever temperatures exceed 28C, which was in use last week.

Nest box vents were also opened, and lids removed during hot days to increase ventilation, but they could not have been moved to a cooler location as the disturbance would have caused the parents to abandon the chicks.

DOC staff will meet with ICWT to review what happened and look at whether extra measures can be taken to reduce temperatures in the aviaries on hot days.

ICWT plans to trial battery-powered fans to try and increase ventilation to the nest boxes.

Toki said the program has also celebrated some success this week, with 10 of the captive-raised kākāriki released into the Lake Sumner Forest Park on Friday.

On top of this, ICWT has another 20 chicks and 17 fledglings which survived the extreme temperatures.

Of the three nests that lost chicks last week, one lost its entire brood and two lost all but one chick.

The two surviving chicks were moved to the same nest so two of the three affected pairs will have the chance to breed again this season.

There has been one similar event in the past – 12 chicks in two nests died in 2015 when temperatures reached 35C.