Kākāriki karaka - 2026 population count

Since the first translocation of kākāriki karaka in the Brook Waimārama Sanctuary, we've been doing an annual population survey. This species is critically endangered and there is a requirement to monitor progress post-reintroduction. Normally this is done in May or June, but we had to delay it for various reasons (personnel availability being the main one) and this year the survey was conducted on September 1st and 2nd. We covered the Sanctuary in twelve teams of two people per team playing a recording of kākāriki karaka at designated points and attempted to count every member of this species present. An accurate population estimate would require all birds to hear the playback, respond to it, and then be detected by the surveyors either visually or audibly. The survey is conducted twice, on consecutive days, with teams swapping and doing different lines on Day 2 (this helps to reduce surveyor bias).

Prior to the survey, anecdotal evidence indicated a steady increase in population density in areas where kākāriki karaka have been regularly recorded, and continued spreading of the species into areas where they were either not previously detected or perhaps only occasionally spotted.

In the past couple of years it had become clear to many of us that some birds were simply not interested in the playback. They did not come in to investigate. Many of the counted birds were randomly detected in between playback points (spaced at about 200-300m centres). It seems clear to me that as the population increases, the birds have less reason to respond to playback. I.e., most of the birds will hear other kākāriki karaka many times per day and there is little reason to expect them to react every time they hear one. I have watched kākāriki numerous times when other kākāriki pass by or chatter some distance away, and the birds I'm watching do not react.

During this playback survey, there were a few occasions where we were walking between stations, and we'd hear a chirp, or minor chatter. We'd stop, and if we were unable to observe anything further we'd note it as one bird (one unidentified parakeet). However, on occasion, we'd look in the direction of the chatter, find the bird, then shortly after would see the bird's mate. Then nearby would be another pair, or more. So one chirp could indicate one bird, or four, five, six etc.

Overall, the lack of interest in the survey by some (many?) of the birds, and the conservative counting, means the number of birds detected is likely to be an undercount, possibly significantly so. This is of course partly offset by the small number of birds counted twice (if they've flown from one site to another and been counted again).

On day one we counted 285 birds, on day two it was 229. My view is that 285 is safe as an absolute rock bottom conservative minimum. Any other use of numbers will involve guess work. Counting small green birds in a large green forest is not an exact science! Even that rock bottom number indicates steady year-on-year population growth. If a fudge factor is added for the uncounted birds then it simply indicates an even higher growth rate.

It is worth noting that in ideal conditions, kākāriki karaka are capable of rapid breeding. They can begin breeding within a few months of fledging, have overlapping consecutive nests, and large clutches. Note the pair Trixie and Nacho at the Isaac Conservation and Wildlife Trust have produced 55 chicks over the last two seasons, with 33 in the last season alone. This is not typical, but it is easy to see how rapid population growth could occur in the ideal conditions of the Brook Waimārama Sanctuary (original beech forest with an absence of introduced mammalian predators).

Anyway, with a gun to my head, what would I guess is the likely population in the Brook? I would probably go for something in the high 400s, with rather wide error bars, perhaps +/- 200 birds. What if we only detected half of the birds? You do the math.... Anyway, it's all good news.

Here's a photo of a kākāriki karaka we detected on Day 2 of the survey.

...and here's one detected on Day 1.

Healthy birds reflecting a healthy population with healthy population growth.

Kea - an unexpected visitor to the Brook Waimārama Sanctuary

About 24 people conducted our annual kākāriki karaka population count over two days this week in the Brook Waimārama Sanctuary (more about that in a later post, but the short answer is that we counted a record number of birds and concluded the population continues to grow at a steady pace). On Day 2 (Wednesday, 2026-09-02) about a dozen of us arrived at the top of the Sanctuary by vehicle. We were immediately greeted by the unmistakable "kee-aaaaaaaa" of New Zealand's famous alpine parrot, the kea. Nobody present had any recollection of ever seeing a kea in the Sanctuary, they tend to live at higher altitudes. However, juveniles have been known to go exploring while young, including visiting lower regions, before (hopefully) returning home to their natural environment: the mountains.

Needless to say, we were all a bit distracted from our kākāriki-karaka-counting task and watched (and photographed) our surprise visitor for a while. Out came my camera of course... The kea came and went a few times, and I was lucky enough to get some of him in flight.

(This bird had leg bands, and was identified as "Track", a male bird banded last year on a forestry block between Nelson and Murchison.)

Here he is returning from one of his short trips away from us. His wing undersides are in shade here.

It was 'golden hour' (shortly after sunrise) and the sun was able to get under his wing highlighting the gorgeous feathers hidden when perched.

He landed in a tree top for a while.

He left. Here he is returning. No sun under the wing this time.

He landed on a dead trunk. It was a windy day and the wind under his feathers seems to have given him a mane.

He took off again, I was a bit slow to follow and only just got him in this frame (his perch is on the right).

Then I caught up with my panning for a couple more shots.

Next perch.

He's about to take off again.

He closed his eyes for a time here. I'm not sure if he was just slow-blinking, or instinctively closing his eyes for protection while flying through foliage.

Note how he's just plowing through the soft foliage here.

He's grabbing onto foliage on the way past.

Although it was tempting to stay and watch our new friend, we decided to enter the Sanctuary and head down the spur track, where we would split off into pairs and start counting kākāriki karaka. Our friend the kea didn't like being abandoned and followed us down the track deeper into the Sanctuary. (Light is a lot more challenging here, it was early morning in a dark forest. I was commonly shooting at 40 - 64,000 ISO.)

A few portraits.

And lastly, a bunch of mugshots.

There's a funny ending to this story. The kea followed a couple of the surveyors for about three hours, and made a habit of landing on the head of one lucky (or was it unlucky?) volunteer! He chewed boots, packs etc as this species has a habit of doing. He was also enjoying throwing tracking tunnels off  the track. A very naughty boy! This species is highly intelligent, inquisitive and cheeky, and brings many smiles to many faces, even when they're undoing your bootlaces, opening containers, biting chunks out of your windscreen wipers etc.

The Floyds have dinner

Those who've been following this blog for a while will remember the feel-good story about Floyd from last September. Here's a link to the post if you haven't seen it. Since I wrote that post I'd seen Floyd once more, in October 2025.

I was walking through the Brook Waimārama Sanctuary yesterday picking up some monitoring cards, and as I picked up the last card I heard some soft chatter just uphill. I turned, and a pair of kākāriki karaka were feeding on the buttress roots of a beech. I saw a silver band on the right leg of one (indicating a male), and guessed pretty quickly that the bird was Floyd. I was only about 30m above his old nest site from 2022. He moved a few times and sure enough, it was Floyd. He's now a little over eight years old, and by far the oldest kākāriki karaka in the Brook.

Here is Floyd looking beautiful and healthy.

Floyd and his wife (I'll call her Mrs Floyd) were tearing off bits of the sooty mold (which is indicative of the presence of scale insects) to snack on the insects themselves. [These particular scale insects consume sap from the tree phloem and excrete excess sugar through the filaments commonly seen with a drop of honeydew at the end.]

Here is Mrs Floyd looking as healthy and beautiful as her beau. Two photos followed by close-ups showing the scale insect in her beak. The filament is still attached to the bug. 

Now a photo of Floyd with a scale insect in his beak, and a close-up.

Floyd checking out a nearby tree for more scale insects.

He's found one.

Compare this photo with the previous one, the filament above Floyd's right claw is gone and there is a hole where the scale insect used to be. (That's Mrs Floyd in the background.)

One more photo of Floyd.... until next time.

Mātātā - yet another visit

It stopped raining about midday yesterday and the sun came out, so I headed back to the Wakapuaka sandflats for another photo session with the mātātā (fernbirds). I took far too many photos (about 3500), and whittled it down to about 18. Here are a few of them. Still after that 'perfect' shot, not easy as these birds instinctively stay inside the bushes.

Posing in a rare window through the bush.

Puffed up to keep warm while having a post-preening nap.

Yay, finally got one out in the open. A bit far away though and cropped heavily.

A few backlit by sky.

They spend a fair bit of time just above (or perhaps on?) the ground hidden in the long grass. (Their feeding and nesting habits makes them vulnerable to predators such as rats, mustelids, cats, dogs etc.) You can follow their movement through the grass by watching the grass stalks move. Occasionally they pop up briefly like this one did.