Hope for kaka population in Abel Tasman

Project Janszoon says the comprehensive pest control programme that has taken place in Abel Tasman should allow the kaka to breed successfully. Photo / Getty Images

The small population of wild kaka in Abel Tasman National Park has received a much needed reinvigoration, with four female birds having been released in the area.

Project Janszoon is an environmental trust, working in collaboration with the Department of Conservation to protect the endangered species.

They understand that before these females were introduced, there were only male kaka remaining in the park, which was effectively condemning the birds to extinction within Abel Tasman.

Pete Gaze, an ornithologist with Project Janszoon, says the comprehensive pest control programme that has taken place in Abel Tasman should allow the kaka to breed successfully.

"This is the big one for me, to get kaka re-established in the Park and evident to visitors will be wonderful," he says. "At least one of the wild birds has taken an interest in the females since they arrived to the aviary and we will be releasing them at a time when everything bodes well for breeding this season."

Although kaka grow to a relatively old age, like other parrots, they are at risk in the presence of stoats and possums. Historic records from the late 1800s describe large flocks of kaka in Abel Tasman.

The accounts also say that the birds fed specifically on rata, which are currently re-establishing themselves thanks to possum control.

"Kaka are one of my favourite birds as they are big, personable and vocal," saus Department of Conservation Motueka Operations Manager, Chris Golding. "As the population increases visitors to the Park will have every chance of seeing them, and in time we would expect kaka to come down to the Coast so they are likely to be seen by people walking the coastal track."

The female birds that have been released in Abel Tasman National Park were bred in captivity and raised in Te Anau, Dunedin and Invercargill.

They were moved to an aviary in the upper reaches of the park in September, to allow them to become acquainted with their new surroundings before being properly re-introduced.

The kaka have been fitted with radio transmitters so that they can be monitored to see how they are integrating into the wild population.

"There used to be kaka in the bush all around this area and we are absolutely delighted the birds are coming back to the rohe where they once were," says Manawhenua ki Mohua representative John Ward-Holmes.

Project Janzsoon is supporting a kaka breeding programme, for which the Department of Conservation are collecting chicks and eggs from Nelson Lakes National Park.

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