The South Island Kaka

Photo: Readers Digest Complete Book of New Zealand Birds

The kaka has been absent from Dunedin (apart from in the Botanic Garden aviaries) for many decades, but has already returned to Orokonui, where we have four kaka in the sanctuary aviary. They are doing well, thanks to the care of our Ranger Kelly Gough and a group of volunteers who feed the birds regularly. The adult pair in the aviary are soon to be fed a nectar mix to encourage them to breed again. The two young birds are brother and sister so a new juvenile male may be brought in, in the hope of creating a new breeding pair. The adult birds will be released after breeding, and if they are happy to regard Orokonui as their home, we will introduce other kaka. This large and intelligent parrot, once abundant over the South Island, is now restricted to large tracts of low- and mid-altitude forest in north-west Nelson, Westland and Fiordland. Kaka still thrive on Stewart Island, from where they occasionally venture to the Catlins coast and further afield. Kaka are renowned for their propensity to travel long distances (tens and sometimes hundreds of kilometres), especially as juveniles. Henry Bennett, who was familiar with the Upper Junction District of Dunedin from 1884, wrote the following in his 1952 recollections:“Wood pigeons were very plentiful, but the settlers used to shoot them as they were a good table bird. The Kaka, or red and grey parrot, was also plentiful; it was quite common to see 20 or 30 birds flying around. This also was a good table bird so was soon thinned out. It was supposed to be the first bird to awake in the early dawn”. Kaka seem to be partly nocturnal, and call frequently at night. They have a very wide vocal range. They feed in noisy flocks in the early morning and late evening, and quietly as individuals during the day. Kaka eat nectar, seeds, foliage, shoots and fruits, moving across the forest from one food source to another, both daily and seasonally. They also excavate for wood-boring grubs in both living and dead wood, and females sometimes take sap from incisions they cut in tree bark, leaving distinctive horizontal scars. Nests are located in hollow trees, where up to five eggs are laid any time between September and March. Usually only two chicks are successfully raised to fledging. The female incubates the eggs and is fed by the male, but both parents feed the chicks. Females sitting on nests are highly vulnerable to stoat predation.