Rare nocturnal parrots in New Zealand are breeding for the first time in 4 years — here's why

A critically endangered, flightless parrot species is breeding for the first time in four years in New Zealand, officials announced Jan. 6.

Kākāpō (Strigops habroptilus) are large, flightless, nocturnal parrots with mottled green and yellow plumage that only breed every two to four years. Their breeding seasons are triggered by the mass fruiting of the rimu tree (Dacrydium cupressinum), a native conifer that can live for more than 600 years.

"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," Deidre Vercoe, operations manager for kākāpō recovery at New Zealand's Department of Conservation, said in a statement.

The birds became critically endangered by the mid-1900s due to human expansion across New Zealand. Intensive management has raised kākāpō numbers from just 51 individuals over the last 30 years, but only 236 kākāpōs remain in the wild today, including 83 breeding females. All of them wear backpack radio transmitters to monitor their location and activities. Most kākāpō females raise one chick each breeding season.

The 2026 breeding season could produce the most chicks since records began 30 years ago, according to the statement. But the kākāpō recovery program is focusing on ensuring the birds can sustain themselves — not just the number of chicks they produce.

"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," Vercoe said. "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."

In previous years, being hand-raised by humans has led some kākāpō to imprint on people rather than other members of their own species. One, named Sirocco, made headlines when he attempted to mate with the head of a zoologist filming a documentary on the birds in 2009. That prompted creative rangers to develop a latex "kākāpō ejaculation helmet," Stuff reported in 2018.

This season, to reduce interference, the team plans to leave more eggs to hatch in kākāpō nests rather than in incubators, and limit how much they interact with the nests that hold more than one chick.

During the breeding season, male kākāpō come together to build networks of paths and depressions that amplify their booming mating calls. Each night, for weeks or months, their calls attract females to this communal area, called a lek. After mating, the female kākāpō incubates the eggs and raises the chicks alone.

Officials expect the first chicks of the season to hatch around mid-February.

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