Eight kakapo chicks have been added to the fragile kakapo population on Codfish Island, 4km west of Stewart Island, the Department of Conservation said yesterday.
This takes the world population of the endangered kakapo to 70, nearly all of which are on Codfish Island (also known as Whenuahou Island).
Last month Flossie
was the first female to have a chick hatch. The cute and photogenic arrival was dubbed F1.
"We are expecting another two eggs to hatch in the next 24 hours," DOC spokesman Paul Jansen said yesterday.
"There are 22 other confirmed fertile eggs aged up to 25 days old and we expect these to hatch about day 30."
One female bird, Hoki, the first chick to be hand-reared to ensure her survival, is sitting on an egg.
The chicks this season are the first to emerge in three years after lean mating seasons.
Kakapo, flightless birds, are only found on Codfish Island and Maud Island in the Marlborough Sounds.
There are only nine non-breeding birds on Maud Island.
Conservation Minister Sandra Lee said she hoped the arrival of F1 would kick off the best breeding season yet.
"This chick, and the others following it, stand the best chance ever of making it to breeding age due to the intensive effort that has been put into both kakapo over the past decade and into making Codfish Island a sanctuary," she said.
The kakapo (or night parrot) is listed as one of the world's critically endangered species. It was thought to be extinct until a population was discovered on Stewart Island in 1976.
The Comalco-sponsored Kakapo Recovery Programme began in 1990. Under the programme, every nest is filmed to ensure the mother is getting enough food and does not abandon it.
Kakapo are solitary, sleeping during the day and wandering through the forest alone at night to feed.
Their bewhiskered faces, waddling gait and comic antics endeared them to early settlers, some of whom kept them as pets.
However their defence mechanism of "freezing" proved to be woefully inadequate when faced with possums, rats and dogs.
- NZPA
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