Exciting News: Kākā Spotted!

Have you spotted any  kākā around Kaipātiki recently? Many have! There have been a considerable number of sightings on social media in the last few months, which is exciting news. You will often hear them first, an unmistakable harsh “ka-aa” call while flying overhead. If you’re lucky, you might spot them feeding in trees.  

Kākā are hollow nesters; this means they require older trees with enough girth and potential hollows to set up house. Urban removal of large and older trees is a problem for all hollow nesters, including our only surviving native owl, the ruru (morepork). Exotic species like eastern rosellas and possums exacerbate this ‘housing crisis’ by adding strong competition for suitable homes. 

As part of the Hollows for Homes project, PFK have installed six kākā nest boxes in suitable trees where kākā have been spotted, to entice visiting kākā to stay and breed in Kaipātiki. While there have been no takers so far, increased kākā sightings keep us hopeful that a breeding population might be possible one day! 

To make that reality more likely, however, kākā still need our help: the female kākā spends about three months incubating eggs and raising four to seven nestlings at a time. She is at her most vulnerable to predators during this time, especially stoats. Stoats are relentless killers and can kill the adult female along with the nestlings, as there is no escape once the stoat is in the nest. For this reason, most birds seen on the mainland are male, although this is hopefully changing as populations in predator-free areas grow stronger and filter in.  

This is where we can make a difference: keeping the numbers of rats and stoats down is critical, and the work that you and all our volunteers do to operate traplines help make Kaipātiki a safer place for kākā. Trapping should ideally be intensified (especially for stoats) in areas where you think you might have spotted a nesting kākā!  

The danger continues when fledglings leave the nest; initially they are not strong flyers and tend to flop around on the ground for up to two weeks while they “get their wings” and learn to fly. During this time, cats can be a major hazard and additional monitoring and protective measures would be highly beneficial.   

 What can you do? 

• Visit New Zealand Birds Online for photos and recordings of kākā calls to learn what they look and sounds like 

• Join the Kaipātiki Kākā project on iNaturalist and report any sightings of kākā 

• Let us know at team@pfk.org.nz if you suspect any kākā breeding and nesting in Kaipātiki!  

• Host a trap on your property or volunteer to help out with trapping. Get in touch for traps, advice and volunteering options.  

• Please DON’T feed kākā. Kākā that don’t get the right nutrients in their diets can get metabolic bone disease, which is fatal.