\u201cThe breeding season has ended and yet she\u2019s still producing eggs and raising chicks,\u201d Percasky said.<\/p>\n
Two of the more than fifty K\u0101k\u0101riki karaka chicks, super parents Nacho and Trixie, have reproduced.<\/p>\n
\u201cIdeally, we\u2019d prefer her to stop so she can have a rest, but she shows no signs of that with another seven chicks in her most recent clutch.<\/p>\n
\u201cNacho also deserves credit as he\u2019s responsible for finding food for both Trixie and the chicks, which is incredibly busy. Male k\u0101k\u0101riki karaka play a crucial role in chick-raising.<\/p>\n
\u201cTrixie herself came from an egg from a pair in the wild, and she\u2019s an incredibly robust, healthy bird who breeds larger-than-normal chicks with Nacho.<\/p>\n
\u201cMany of her offspring have been translocated to help boost other populations of k\u0101k\u0101riki karaka on offshore islands and into other locations in the wild.\u201d<\/p>\n
Nacho is responsible for finding food for both Trixie and the chicks.<\/p>\n
Percasky said he\u2019s in awe of Trixie and Nacho and seeing them produce so many chicks is hugely satisfying for everyone involved.<\/p>\n
\u201cThese two are making a massive contribution to the survival of their species and are such great parents.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re hoping they will decide to have a well-earned break after this clutch. I\u2019m not sure where they get all their energy from.\u201d<\/p>\n
The critically endangered bird is New Zealand\u2019s smallest and rarest parakeet, with around 450 left, mainly in predator-free sanctuaries like the Brook Waim\u0101rama Sanctuary in Nelson, or on islands like Blumine Island\/\u014cruawairua in Marlborough and Pukenui\/Anchor Island in Fiordland.<\/p>\n
Twice declared extinct, then rediscovered, there are two wild populations of k\u0101k\u0101riki karaka in Canterbury.<\/p>\n
One resides in the Hawdon Valley near Arthurs Pass and the other in the South Branch of the Hurunui River, with current estimates of 50 and 60 birds in each valley.<\/p>\n
Trixie has been described as a “super-mum” for her species.<\/p>\n
The Department of Conservation (DoC) and Te R\u016bnanga o Ng\u0101i Tahu lead a recovery programme focused on researching and breeding birds in captivity to release into the wild.<\/p>\n
They also protect sites where k\u0101k\u0101riki karaka are found, while looking for safe new sites where the species can be introduced.<\/p>\n
DoC staff have this week transferred 43 k\u0101k\u0101riki karaka, including Trixie and Nacho\u2019s offspring, from The ICWT and Orana Park to Pukenui\/Anchor Island, hoping to further grow the population there.<\/p>\n
The team are now surveying that population to establish accurate numbers of the birds.<\/p>\n
DoC K\u0101k\u0101riki Karaka Recovery Programme lead Wayne Beggs said without the work that the ICWT and Orana Park do by looking after birds like Trixie and Nacho, the special parakeet would have gone extinct.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe rely on the captive breeding programmes as without them, we couldn\u2019t establish new sites,\u201d Beggs said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe wild populations are very vulnerable to predators, so we always need back-up populations.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe places that help us achieve this are the nurturing heroes. There is so much hands-on work that goes into rearing these chicks.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\u201cThe breeding season has ended and yet she\u2019s still producing eggs and raising chicks,\u201d Percasky said. Two of…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":438010,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[26],"tags":[223986,19333,74,95,806,1558,35875,31579,67741,8611,12939,13114,28622,305,91125,223985,130,141370,111,139,69,13792,3766,2515,147,3649,313,6639,131,165,177958,406,377],"class_list":["post-438009","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-wildlife","tag-50chick","tag-19333","tag-after","tag-and","tag-as","tag-been","tag-bird","tag-boosted","tag-chicks","tag-contribution","tag-critically","tag-crowned","tag-endangered","tag-have","tag-karaka","tag-kkriki","tag-more","tag-nacho","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-pair","tag-parents","tag-raise","tag-science","tag-species","tag-super","tag-survival","tag-than","tag-their","tag-trixie","tag-wildlife","tag-world"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/438009","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=438009"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/438009\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/438010"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=438009"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=438009"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=438009"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}