Current kākāpō conservation

Basil the kākāpō is a survivor. When kākāpō were rediscovered on Stewart Island in 1977, in the Tin Range on the southern end of the island, the population was initially estimated to be between 100 and 200 birds. Most of these birds were found between the Pegasus River and an area known as Skyline, roughly halfway from the Robertson River to Seal Creek, largely in subalpine scrublands. They were divided into two arenas where male kākāpō boomed for females. However, several kilometres to the sout

Kākāpō are breeding this year for the first time since 2022. Kākāpō are mast-breeding birds, meaning that on the southern islands of New Zealand they breed when the rimu fruit ripens, an event that occurs every two to five years. Only 237 kākāpō remain, and breeding will occur across Whenua Hou, Chalky Island, Anchor Island, and possibly Coal Island too. This is expected to be the largest breeding season on record, with perhaps ninety females participating. It’s also a critical one, only twenty-