Kakapo chicks crack the ton

DARREN SCOTT

Bundle of joy: Deidre Vercoe holds a two-week old kakapo chick, one of the newcomers that are delighting volunteers trying to save the birds.

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Volunteers trying to save the endangered kakapo are rejoicing, with new arrivals helping the population to crack the 100 mark.

The six chicks hatched on Sunday on Codfish Island, off Stewart Island, bring the number this season to 14. They are being monitored by the Conservation Department's kakapo recovery team.

All have survived their first few critical days, taking the head count to 105 - more than double that of a decade ago.

Kakapo recovery programme manager Deidre Vercoe said a bumper crop of rimu seeds this summer was behind the explosion in numbers.

Kakapo are notoriously slow breeders, but spark up when they eye vast quantities of their favourite food in the branches above. Ms Vercoe said that in the past, staff had tried to fool kakapo into thinking there was an abundance of rimu seeds during lean years.

"We've scattered freeze-dried seeds around their nests, even hung them from trees, but they seem to know when it's the real thing."

The large, green, flightless parrot is one of the rarest birds in the world. Its survival chances have not been helped by its lethargic mating habits: the birds breed only every three to five years.

Conservation Minister Tim Groser welcomed the news, but warned of a "long road ahead" before the kakapo's future was secure. "But it's a huge milestone for one of the country's favourite birds."

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