To Save the Kakapo
The kakapo’s most successful breeding season for 16 years was a roller coaster ride of hope for the team trying to save New Zealand’s flightless parrot from extinction.
New Zealand’s kakapo is one of the world’s most remarkable birds. It is also one of the most endangered. There are only 50 of these shy, flightless parrots left, and the New Zealand Department of Conservation’s kakapo recovery team is trying to save them from extinction. This is the story of the roller coaster ride of the kakapo’s most successful breeding season in 16 years, on remote Codfish Island. It includes amazing insights into the bizarre nocturnal courtship display of the male kakapo. And for the first time ever it shows female kakapo and chicks inside their nests. By the end of the season kakapo numbers had reached 54 – kakapo numbers had increased for the first time in a hundred years.