Bid to save critically endangered parakeet breeding success in Arthur's Pass
Friday, 7 April 2023
One of New Zealand’s rarest birds is making a comeback.
A kākāriki karaka/orange-fronted parakeet population has been re-established in Arthur’s Pass National Park, with the critically endangered birds already breeding following a series of releases over summer.
Department of Conservation (DOC) field teams discovered chicks in a nest in March – the first time kākāriki karaka chicks have been found in the Hawdon Valley area since 2015.
Four successful releases of captive bred birds into the valley have been made since late last year – a total of 73 kākāriki karaka. The most recent release, at the start of April, saw 19 birds introduced.
**READ MORE:
* Kākāriki karaka released to Nelson forest sanctuary
* Critically endangered parrots return to Canterbury valley after 15-year absence
* Critically endangered parrots die in Christchurch captive breeding program
* Ugly ducklings a boost to critically endangered species
**
The birds, bred at the Isaac Conservation and Wildlife Trust and Orana Wildlife Park in Christchurch, and at Auckland Zoo, are part of a species recovery programme run by Ngāi Tahu and DOC.
DOC kākāriki karaka operations manager Wayne Beggs said the birds were found in the Hawdon Valley in the past, but predation had caused population decline to the point where monitoring in 2021 and 2022 could not detect them.
Once commonplace throughout the country, the birds were recorded in especially large numbers across the Canterbury Plains during the late 1800s, probably as a result of breeding surges driven by beech forest masts (mass seeding).
A boom-and-bust species, kākāriki karaka numbers can naturally increase rapidly when environmental conditions are good, breeding for 18 months straight when food is plentiful, and decline rapidly when they are not.
The distribution of the parakeets decreased rapidly over the last century. They were shot in large numbers when feeding on domestic fruit orchards, and suffered from habitat destruction such as the clearance of matagouri and native forest. The birds were twice declared extinct – in 1919 and again in 1965.
The same beech forest masts (heavy seeding events that occur once every two to six years) that prompt prolonged breeding seasons for some native species also fuel pest explosions, causing an upsurge in rodents and stoats, which can have devastating impacts on wildlife.
“Because they nest and roost in tree holes, kākāriki karaka are particularly vulnerable to predators like rats and stoats,” with one valley population dropping by 85% due to a rat plague in 2001, Begg said.
There are now fewer than 400 adults left in the wild. Aside from the Hawdon Valley, populations are found at Hurunui South Branch in Lake Sumner Forest Park, the Brook Waimārama Sanctuary in Nelson, and on predator-free Ōruawairua/Blumine Island in the Marlborough Sounds.
Te Rūnanga o Ngāi Tahu kākāriki karaka species recovery representative Yvette Couch-Lewis said the Hawdon Valley was once again becoming a safe haven for the critically endangered manu (bird).
“When we arrived on site for the latest release the air was already filled with the waiata of kākāriki karaka welcoming their extended whānau to the forest – haere mai.
“These manu have been bred in captivity and do not know the wild. But taking to the skies for the first time, they can stretch their wings and soak in the new smells and sounds of their new home, while feeling reassured that other kākāriki karaka are nearby.”
A four-year Jobs for Nature project has increased predator control and monitoring for kākāriki karaka, while benefitting other threatened species such as whio and mohua, which have both been seen breeding in the Hawdon Valley area this summer, a DOC spokesperson said.