K\u0101k\u0101p\u014d have begun their breeding season after a four-year pause, the Department of Conservation and Ng\u0101i Tahu says. <\/p>\n
Remote monitoring technology used to track the critically threatened taonga detected mating activity began on December 29. <\/p>\n
“It\u2019s always exciting when the breeding season officially begins, but this year it feels especially long-awaited after such a big gap since the last season in 2022,” DOC operations manager for k\u0101k\u0101p\u014d recovery Deidre Vercoe said.<\/p>\n
Vercoe said DOC expected more mating over the next month, and preparations are now underway for “what might be the biggest breeding season since the programme began 30 years ago”. <\/p>\n
The flightless, nocturnal parrots breed just once every two to four years, when rimu trees fruit heavily. <\/p>\n
The total k\u0101k\u0101p\u014d population currently sits at 236 ahead of the breeding season, including 83 breeding-age females. With most k\u0101k\u0101p\u014d mothers typically raising one chick per season, 2026 could bring the most chicks since records began. <\/p>\n
‘Thriving, not just surviving’<\/p>\n
However, Vercoe said success could no longer be measured by numbers alone.<\/p>\n
“We want to create healthy, self-sustaining populations of k\u0101k\u0101p\u014d that are thriving, not just surviving,” she said. “This means, with each successful breeding season, we\u2019re aiming to reduce the level of intensive, hands-on management to return to a more natural state.<\/p>\n
“We\u2019re working towards the goal of returning them to their former range around New Zealand so that one day, hearing a k\u0101k\u0101p\u014d boom might be a normal part of naturing.” <\/p>\n
This season, a range of lower-intervention strategies would be applied to varying degrees across the three remote southern breeding islands, DOC said. It included prioritising checks for genetically valuable eggs and chicks; leaving more eggs to hatch in nests rather than incubators; reducing nest interference for mothers raising multiple chicks; and reducing supplementary feeding. <\/p>\n
‘Returning to their natural ways’<\/p>\n
Te R\u016bnanga o Ng\u0101i Tahu representative on the K\u0101k\u0101p\u014d Recovery Group, T\u0101ne Davis, said each breeding season was a “significant step toward restoring the mauri of k\u0101k\u0101p\u014d and our aim for them to one day thrive on their own throughout the Ng\u0101i Tahu takiw\u0101 o Te Waipounamu”. <\/p>\n
“As part of the more hands-off approach to enhance the mauri of the species, a Ng\u0101i Tahu aspiration is also for a per centage of the chicks hatched this year to remain nameless, acknowledging the beginning of returning the manu to their own natural ways,” Davis said.<\/p>\n
“The predicted scale of this season also reminds us of the need for more safe homes, like a predator-free Rakiura, for this taonga species.”<\/p>\n
Vercoe expressed gratitude for the support of partners and volunteers for their parts in saving the k\u0101k\u0101p\u014d population.<\/p>\n
“It takes a collective effort to turn the tide and bring k\u0101k\u0101p\u014d back from the brink. We\u2019re grateful for all the support shown over the years from people keen to do their bit for nature,” she said.<\/p>\n
The first chicks were expected to start hatching from mid-February. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"K\u0101k\u0101p\u014d have begun their breeding season after a four-year pause, the Department of Conservation and Ng\u0101i Tahu says.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":219383,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[26],"tags":[50,111,139,69,147,406],"class_list":["post-219382","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-wildlife","tag-animals","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-science","tag-wildlife"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/219382","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=219382"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/219382\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/219383"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=219382"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=219382"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=219382"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}