A year of mainland kākāpō

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There are plenty of night-time wanderers in New Zealand that you might expect to come across driving on back roads – rats, mice, a seemingly endless number of possums.  

But it’s not often that you round a corner to come face to face with a kākāpō.  

Elwin’s escapade 

This was the surprising sight that faced Tyler James Lindsay very early one morning in January 2024.  

A Cambridge local, Tyler was driving a milk tanker along Scott Road, northeast of Sanctuary Mountain Maungatautari, when suddenly he saw before him a strange shape.  

“Just a big green bird. Just in the middle of the road looking straight at my lights, I think it was rather confused,” he says. 

Luckily, Tyler is into native birds, so he was aware that kākāpō had been introduced to the fenced sanctuary six months earlier. He knew exactly what he was looking at.  

The next day, Tyler’s report made its way to Sanctuary Mountain Maungatautari kākāpō ranger Dan Howie, who quickly began the search for the elusive Elwin.   

“Such an incredible interaction that he saw this bird out there – in the middle of the road no less – which is absolutely terrifying as kākāpō ranger,” says Dan. 

But this was not the first time, nor the last, that Dan would feel that fear.  

The habitat trial  

Kākāpō numbers are growing. In 1995 there were just 51 kākāpō and the threat of losing them forever was all too real. 

A decade ago, around the time that Dr Andrew Digby joined the Kākāpō Recovery team, there were just over 120 kākāpō. Today there are 247.  

Intensive management and three quite successful breeding seasons have enabled this doubling of kākāpō numbers in the last 10 years. Initially, the challenge was to save the charismatic, flightless parrots from extinction. Now, the team also has an added challenge: where to put them. 

To date, the majority of kākāpō have lived on offshore predator-free islands in the rohe of Ngāi Tahu – Whenua Hou / Codfish Island next to Rakiura / Stewart Island, and Pukenui / Anchor Island in Fiordland. But these islands are getting full.  

“Typically, in some of the earlier habitat, like Fiordland and Rakiura, they might have had 50 hectares per individual, but we know that on some of our islands currently they can get down to about 15 hectares per kākāpō,” says Andrew.  

When the density gets too great there are insufficient suitable breeding areas and food sources for the females to raise chicks, and the males start to fight.  

But kākāpō need areas completely free of mammalian predators, so options are limited.  

A 3400-hectare fenced predator-free area of forest, Sanctuary Mountain Maungatautari is a potentially suitable habitat for kākāpō to live and breed in. A decade of discussions in the making, several things had to happen before the birds were released there.   

A fence designed to keep things out, not in 

Predator-proof fences have a specific design aimed at keeping mammalian predators on the outside. If something does manage to get in, the fence is designed to enable their exit should they decide to climb back out.  

Following fence trials in Whenua Hou, it was determined that fitting a baffle to the 47-kilometre-long perimeter fence in Sanctuary Mountain Maungatautari would prevent the kākāpō from climbing out over it. This took six months, and around $900,000 across the summer of 2022–2023.  

In July 2023, four male kākāpō were released into the sanctuary.  

For Ngāi Tahu kākāpō recovery team representative Tāne Davis, the release was a special opportunity not only to bring back the birds, but also to revitalise iwi-to-iwi tikanga around this taonga species. “That overall sense of kākāpō being on the maunga, I think really does boost the mana of the people. Even if they don't get to see it, it's the knowing that it's there.” 

And at first, everything was great. The kākāpō seemed to settle in well to their new home. In September, six more kākāpō were released into the sanctuary. But then, some of them began to wander. And some intrepid adventurers somehow made their way outside of the fence.  

With repeated escapes causing kākāpō chaos, a new policy came into force. If a kākāpō escaped twice, he would be sent back to the safety of an offshore island. Plus, the 10-strong population was proving tricky to monitor, so a few more kākāpō headed back to island life to keep the Maungatautari crew manageable. 

Where to next?  

Now there are three remaining kākāpō at Maungatautari: Taeatanga, Tautahi and Bunker. The trio appear to have settled down. New GPS tags are being trialled to keep a closer eye on them.   

Preliminary results from further fence trials within the sanctuary seem to show that the birds are not able to climb the fence itself but are using overhanging vegetation to ninja their way to the other side. The team are also watching on as the curious kākāpō encounter a type of forest different to their southern home, with unfamiliar plants such as blackberry bushes. 

Overall, the team are keen to stress that this has always been a trial. To date the birds have luckily managed to dodge any dangers during their escapades. In the meantime, they're learning lots about how kākāpō interact with this new environment.  

The trial continues, and another has also recently begun on Te Puka-Hereka / Coal Island. With another breeding season predicted for 2026, new, safe habitat for these iconic parrots is still an urgent need.  

Listen to the podcast to hear from Tyler, Dan, Andrew and Tāne about a year of kākāpō on mainland Aotearoa.  

Learn more 

• The full interview between Claire Concannon and Dr Andrew Digby is also available to listen as bonus content. Find it here.  

• Listen to 2022 A boomer year for kākāpō where Alison Ballance visited Pukenui Anchor Island to learn about how that breeding season went.  

• And you can also go back in time with Alison to live through the rollercoaster 2019 breeding season in The Kākāpō Files.