Astounding return of parakeets

Kakariki on Raoul Island. Photo / Luis Ortiz-Catedral

Biologists arriving on remote Raoul Island, about halfway between Auckland and Tonga, were astounded to find flocks of chattering, bright green kakariki had returned after 150 years.

The red-crowned parakeets, which are native to New Zealand and its outlying islands, found their way back to the Department of Conservation's most distant managed island after cats, rats and stoats were killed off there in 2004.

Massey University researcher Luis Ortiz-Catedral said the surprise was not the distance the parakeets had travelled - about 4km from a neighbouring island - but the sheer number of birds nesting and breeding four years after the department's pest eradication.

Researchers caught and counted at least 100 birds but Mr Ortiz-Catedral believes further research will uncover thousands.

He said it was the first documented natural relocation of kakariki, and probably a world first for parrot conservation.

Kakariki had resettled other New Zealand forests after predators were removed but their return had never been well documented, he said.

The flourishing population on Raoul Island, 1000 km northeast of the North Island, is the first known example of kakariki breeding and nesting on the island since 1836.

Kakariki are very rare in mainland New Zealand but thrive on island sanctuaries such as Tiritiri Matangi.