KEY POINTS:
Four kaka chicks at the Dunedin Botanic Garden aviary are being fed hand-picked huhu grubs, via their mother.
The diet is part of a plan to build the birds up so one day they can roam free near the Orokonui ecosanctuary.
Orokonui operations manager Elton Smith and about 25 others went to a City Forests plantation at Flagstaff on Saturday to find huhu grubs to feed the small birds.
The kaka chicks hatched about three weeks ago in the aviary and already one is starting to lose weight.
Mr Smith said most females raised two chicks at the best but the mother, aged about 3, was feeding four chicks all on her own, not letting dad do his share.
Under artificial aviary conditions, with no predators, all four eggs successfully hatched.
About 800 huhu grubs were found on Saturday and will be devoured over the next couple of weeks. People have volunteered to keep supplying grubs as the chicks, which can be held in the palm, grow.
The grubs, which the mother eats and then regurgitates to the chicks, are an ideal diet for the birds, says Mr Smith.
"They are packed full of protein and will hopefully help them put on some weight."
Huhu grubs grow to about 70mm long and are found in rotting wood.
Kaka in the wild include them in their diet, with nectar and berries.
Kaka are planned to be part of the $4.6 million ecosanctuary. Other New Zealand natives earmarked for the ecosanctuary include kiwi andkakapo.
Earthworks have begun on the $1.6 million predator-proof fence at the sanctuary. A bulldozer and digger last week started clearing bush along the fence line.
- OTAGO DAILY TIMES
