Conservation authorities and groups, along with Māori people, recently established a new population of the critically endangered kākāriki karaka, or orange-fronted parakeet, on a New Zealand island.
Thirty-four kākāriki karaka (Cyanoramphus malherbi), raised in captivity, were released on the predator-free Pukenui, or Anchor Island, in the Fiordland National Park.
The parakeet was once common across New Zealand but is now considered the rarest mainland forest bird in the country, with only 450 wild individuals remaining.
According to the New Zealand Department of Conservation (DOC), the kākāriki karaka nest and roost in holes in trees, making them vulnerable to predators such as rats, stoats and cats as well as habitat loss. Declared extinct twice before being “rediscovered” in the 1980s, wild populations today survive in a few forests around New Zealand.
The translocated kākāriki karaka were raised in the Isaac Conservation and Wildlife Trust (ICWT) and Orana Wildlife Park, said Leigh Percasky, ICWT’s assistant wildlife manager. She told Mongabay that the captive breeding program consisted of 12 breeding pairs, many that had been collected either as eggs or young chicks from wild sites.
“They are easily stressed and quite fussy, so it’s been [a] continual learning process since the beginning of this programme to develop husbandry techniques and provide the right environment to encourage breeding in captivity,” Percasky said by email. “We try and mimic a wild environment as much as we can.”
In a statement, members of the local Māori council Ōraka-Aparima Rūnaka, which represents the Ngāi Tahu, accompanied the 34 birds as they were flown by helicopter to Pukenui.
The Ngāi Tahu consider kākāriki karaka as a taonga, or treasure, and their cultural and spiritual connection with the bird is recognized in their legislation, Yvette Couch-Lewis, representative of the organization Te Rūnanga o Ngāi Tahu Kākāriki Karaka, told Mongabay.
“For me it is a very emotional process seeing these manu [birds], which have been born and raised in captivity, being released into the wild,” Couch-Lewis said in a statement, adding that translocations like these are important so “one day we can engage with kakariki karaka again.”
Wayne Beggs, DOC Kākāriki Karaka operations manager, told Mongabay by email that all the released birds have colored bands for identification. Nine female birds have also been fitted with radio transmitters, so rangers can record observations and monitor breeding.
Beggs said the birds won’t be at risk since the island is predator-free and has limited access. Traps and monitoring devices are also in place to check for new predators.
“Kākāriki karaka were once abundant and their decline is a message that we need to apply a holistic approach to restoring the health of te taiao [natural world] so that kākāriki karaka can thrive in the wild once again,” Couch-Lewis told Mongabay.
Banner image of a kākāriki karaka at Pukenui/Anchor Island, courtesy of RealNZ.
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