WELLINGTON, Jan 9, 2026 (BSS/AFP) - New Zealand's critically endangered 
flightless parrot, the kakapo, started breeding last week for the first time 
in four years, the government conservation department said.

Only 236 of the rotund and regal-looking green parrots remain in three 
breeding populations on some of New Zealand's most remote southern islands.

That includes 83 breeding age females, with high hopes this year could bring 
the most hatched chicks since records began.

"It's 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," said Deidre Vercoe, the Department of Conservation's kakapo 
recovery operations manager.

"Now it is underway, we expect more mating over the next month and we are 
preparing for what might be the biggest breeding season since the programme 
began 30 years ago."

In 1995 the Department of Conservation and indigenous Maori tribe Ngai Tahu 
launched the Kakapo Recovery Programme, with a population of just 51 birds at 
serious risk of extinction.

By 2022, numbers had rebounded to 252, but 16 birds died over the past four 
years.

This mating season is the 13th in the past 30 years, with the bird breeding 
every two to four years.

"Kakapo are still critically endangered so we'll keep working hard to 
increase numbers," Vercoe said.

"But looking ahead, chick numbers are not our only measure of success. We 
want to create healthy, self-sustaining populations of kakapo that are 
thriving, not just surviving.

"This means with each successful breeding season we're aiming to reduce the 
level of intensive, hands-on management to return to a more natural state."

Tane Davis, a Ngai Tahi representative on the recovery programme, said it was 
hoped kakapo would one day thrive throughout New Zealand's South Island.

The first chicks are expected to hatch in mid-February.