New Zealand’s Unique Flightless Parrot Makes Comeback After Near Extinction

The kakapo, the world's only flightless parrot, has increased from just 50 birds to over 200 through intensive conservation efforts. A bumper crop of their favorite berries has triggered a rare breeding season that could produce record numbers of chicks.

WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) — Once considered destined for extinction, the world’s only flightless parrot is making a remarkable comeback thanks to an extraordinary conservation success story.

The kakapo, a nocturnal bird native to New Zealand, was previously thought to have no chance of survival due to its hefty build, sluggish movement, and appealing taste to predators. The species also exhibits an extremely casual attitude toward breeding that has complicated recovery efforts.

However, dedicated conservation work has helped increase the population from just 50 individuals to over 200 during the past thirty years. An abundant harvest of the unusual parrot’s preferred berries has now triggered exceptional breeding activity, raising hopes among conservationists for a record-breaking number of offspring expected in February. This development could significantly advance the kakapo’s journey away from what seemed like inevitable extinction just decades ago.

These remarkable birds inhabit three small, isolated islands located off New Zealand’s southern coastline, making wild sightings extremely uncommon. The current breeding cycle has brought one female to online stardom through a live video feed of her subterranean nesting site, where a chick was anticipated to emerge this week.

While the kakapo represents a magnificent species capable of living 60 to 80 years, their appearance is undeniably distinctive.

These birds can exceed 3 kilograms (6.6 pounds) in weight. Their features include owl-like faces, whiskers, and speckled green, yellow and black feathers that blend with filtered sunlight on forest floors.

Living on the ground has created survival challenges for these flightless parrots.

“Kakapo also have a really strong scent,” said Deidre Vercoe, the operations manager for the Department of Conservation’s kakapo program. “They smell really musky and fruity — gorgeous smell.”

This distinctive fragrance proved problematic when humans first reached New Zealand centuries ago. The arrival of rats, dogs, cats and stoats, combined with human hunting and native forest destruction, pushed many of the nation’s ground-dwelling bird species, including the kakapo, toward complete or near elimination.

By 1974, experts believed no kakapo remained alive. Conservation teams continued searching, and during the late 1970s, researchers found a surviving group of these birds.

Restoring their numbers has presented numerous challenges.

The kakapo’s slow population growth stems partly from their unusual reproductive patterns. Successful egg-laying can be separated by years or even decades between occurrences.

Mating seasons occur only every two to four years, triggered by abundant fruit production from native rimu trees that these parrots prefer. The last such event occurred in 2022. Chick survival requires massive food availability, though scientists remain uncertain how adult birds detect these plentiful harvests.

“They’re probably up there in the canopy assessing the fruiting,” said Vercoe. “When there’s a large crop developing, they somehow tune into that.”

The breeding behavior becomes particularly unusual at this point. Male kakapo create hollowed-out depressions in the earth and produce deep booming calls followed by sounds called “chings,” resembling squeaky bed springs.

These resonant booms can travel across entire forests on calm evenings, drawing female kakapo to the males’ ground bowls. Females may produce up to four eggs and raise their young independently.

Since January, bird enthusiasts have enjoyed an uncommon look at this process through live streaming footage of 23-year-old kakapo Rakiura’s underground nest on Whenua Hou island. She has produced three eggs, with two being fertile. Due to the species’ fragile status, the actual eggs have been replaced with artificial ones while the real eggs receive indoor incubation. They will be returned to the nest moments before hatching.

The extraordinary measures New Zealanders have taken to preserve the kakapo may be the only thing more remarkable than the bird itself. Increasing the population four-fold over three decades has required moving them to three isolated, predator-free offshore islands and carefully managing every aspect of their breeding relationships.

“We do what we can to make sure we don’t lose any further genetic diversity,” Vercoe said. “We manage that carefully through having the best matches possible on each island.”

Every bird receives a name and wears a small tracking device on their back; without these monitors, disappeared birds would be nearly impossible to locate. With the kakapo remaining critically endangered, intensive conservation work will likely continue indefinitely, though staff are gradually reducing direct intervention each breeding season.

This meticulous species preservation effort might appear unusual to outsiders, but the parrot represents just one of many unique and spirited birds in a nation where avian species dominate. New Zealand’s only native land mammals consist of two bat species, so the country’s birds, which developed distinctive characteristics before human and predator arrival, have become cherished national icons.

“We don’t have the Eiffel Tower or the pyramids, but we do have kakapo and kiwi,” Vercoe said. “It’s a real New Zealand duty to save these birds.”