Date:  06 January 2026

Remote monitoring technology used to track the critically threatened taonga has detected mating activity started on 29 December.

Department of Conservation (DOC) Operations Manager for Kākāpō Recovery Deidre Vercoe says the milestone feels particularly significant for the species this year.

“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,” she says.

“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.

The flightless, nocturnal parrots only breed once every two to four years, when the rimu trees mast (mass fruiting). They are among the most intensively managed species in the world. The total population sits at 236 ahead of the breeding season, including 83 breeding-age females.

With most kākāpō mothers typically raising one chick per season, 2026 could see the most chicks since records began. However success can no longer be measured by numbers alone, Deidre says.

“Kākāpō are still critically endangered, so we’ll keep working hard to increase numbers, but looking ahead, chick numbers are not our only measure of success,” says Deidre.

“We want to create healthy, self-sustaining populations of kākāpō 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. We’re working towards the goal of returning them to their former range around New Zealand so that one day, hearing a kākāpō boom might be a normal part of naturing."

This season, a range of lower-intervention strategies will be applied to varying degrees across the three remote southern breeding islands. These include; prioritising checks for genetically valuable eggs and chicks, leaving more eggs to hatch in nests rather than incubators, reduce nest interference for mothers raising multiple chicks, and reducing supplementary feeding.

Te Rūnanga o Ngāi Tahu representative on the Kākāpō Recovery Group Tāne Davis has been involved with the programme for 20 years and says growth brings its own advantages and challenges.

“Every breeding season marks a significant step toward restoring the mauri of kākāpō and our aim for them to one day thrive on their own throughout the Ngāi Tahu takiwā o Te Waipounamu.

“As part of the more hands-off approach to enhance the mauri of the species, a Ngāi Tahu aspiration is also for a percentage of the chicks hatched this year to remain nameless, acknowledging the beginning of returning the manu to their own natural ways.

“The predicted scale of this season also reminds us of the need for more safe homes, like a predator free Rakiura, for this taonga species.”

Deidre says the support of partners, volunteers and supporters all play a critical part in bringing kākāpō back from the brink.

“It takes a collective effort to turn the tide and bring kākāpō back from the brink. We’re grateful for all the support shown over the years from people keen to do their bit for nature.”

The Kākāpō Recovery Programme has been supported since 2016 by National Partner Meridian Energy through both financial and in-kind support, including infrastructure development, engineering expertise, and volunteer efforts.

During breeding seasons, Meridian's support in maintaining generators and power systems on the remote breeding islands is vital to support the seasonal influx of people and power critical equipment like chick incubators.

The first chicks are expected to start hatching from mid-February.

Background information 

• Since 1995, DOC’s Kākāpō Recovery Programme and Ngāi Tahu have worked together to rebuild the population from just 51 manu (31 males, 20 females) and we’ve supported the species through 12 breeding seasons, reaching a population high in 2022 of 252. 
• This breeding season is the 13th season in 30 years of the programme. This is because kākāpō only breed once every two to four years. The only known breeding trigger for kākāpō is the mast (mass fruiting) of the rimu tree, which last occurred in 2022.
• Kākāpō are the only lek-breeding parrot in the world. Males gather in a communal area, called a lek, to display to females. Male kākāpō spend months preparing “track and bowl” systems (networks of cleared paths and depressions that help resonate sound) where they perform booming and chinging courtship calls. These nightly displays to attract females from across the island can last for weeks or even months on end. Once mating is done, the female takes on all parenting duties – nesting, incubating, and raising the chicks solo.
• There are 236 kākāpō alive today and each wears a small backpack radio transmitter to help track their location and monitor their activity levels.
• There are three breeding populations, on Whenua Hou/Codfish Island near Rakiura, and Fiordland’s Pukenui/Anchor Island and Te Kāhaku/Chalky Island.

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