The kakapo has been pinned with many adjectives. Shy, frisky, curious and romantic are ones that crop up most often, however one that is noticeably absent from the usual list of descriptors is ‘gloriously perfumed’. The cover of darkness means that fabulously coloured plumage will go unnoticed by potential mates. So instead it smells. Great. […]

Guest Blogger: Kakapo feeder, Stephanie Gray By the look of the empty feed bowl, Sinbad enjoyed his  kumara cubes and macadamia nuts last night. He’s tidy too, leaving only a few crumbs, unlike the chicks who scatter lumps of pasty, half-chewed pellets up to two meters from their hopper—a kakapo feed station. I start to […]

Guest blogger: Kakapo nest-minder, Emma Gilkinson It’s 8.30 pm and I’m glued to the black and white screen. Sarah the Kakapo is the star of the show. At the moment she is a still feathery pillow with eyes like shiny black berries that open and close from time to time. I’m sitting in a tent […]

I write this last update from my study in Dunedin, where I am resting for a couple of days after my few weeks of hard work on the island.  I was pretty sad to leave my feathered friends and the magical Whenua Hou where I had such an amazing experience with this fantastic and successful […]

After receiving our training from the four friendly DOC rangers on the island my 2 compadres and I are now fully fledged kakapo supplementary feeders.  On the first day we each did a round of feeding stations alone with one ranger.  This was a perfect introduction to the feeding and cleaning protocols and also to […]