Kākā - World Parrot Day

I'm a day late but who's counting? Yesterday was World Parrot Day (it's May 31st every year). Kākā are also one of the five birds in the World Parrot Trust's Parrot of the Year competition. You'll find plenty of information about this species at NZ Birds and plenty more on Wikipedia.

I stopped near the kākā aviary on the way out of the Brook Waimārama Sanctuary on Saturday, and three of the six kākā turned up. (All the kākā are now free birds, the aviary has been opened up; the birds can return for some supplementary food or nostalgia if they feel like it.) They were snacking at the feeders (eating apple etc) but mostly eating wild food they found in the canopy or on tree trunks. I took far too many photos, here are a few.

Snacking on whatever may be in dead branches. Bugs, probably.

This guy has grabbed a piece of apple from one of the feeders (which is behind him) and is sitting on the viewing fence. That's the fence separating the feeders from the humans; it has viewing holes so that humans can observe the birds without being noticed. This bird seems like he couldn't care less who watches him eat. He's sitting on the fence with his apple looking down on the human viewers (in this case, it was only me).

Important note: The supplementary diet for these birds is very carefully controlled. Feeding kākā the wrong food is extremely bad for them. If you pay these birds a visit, please do not feed them anything at all, ever.

Here he is cleaning his beak on on the aviary roof after snacking.

This guy has spotted some tasty honeydew. He puts his upper beak over it then licks it up with his tongue.

This guy is chewing the top of a dead trunk for bugs. They can remove quite a lot of rotten wood quite quickly.

Peeling off the bark and licking up what's under each piece while he holds it. I'm a little unsure what he's eating, perhaps scale insects or perhaps some sap? (If anyone reading this knows, answer in the comments at the bottom of this post.)

There was something pretty tasty under this bark. These two spent quite some time there nibbling on it, peeling bits off then licking under each piece, then dropping it and grabbing another piece.

They could be snacking anywhere in the forest but chose to feed together and share whatever was there. Dining as a social event.

They weren't transferring food here, this was just friendly beak-touching.

A couple more feeding / nibbling shots, then a couple of mugshots.

A day with some birds

I didn't have anything in particular to do in the Brook Waimārama Sanctuary in the weekend, so went in with my camera for a day with the birds. (I pretty much spend a day a week in the Sanctuary regardless of whether I have work planned.)

I saw a ngirungiru (tomtit) or two. First one is a male looking as cute as they usually look. Second is another male a bit later about to start preening/scritching.

Next up, no visit by me to the Sanctuary is complete without seeing plenty of kākāriki karaka. This guy is looking healthy and beautiful.

This is YO-O sitting on a branch snacking on a sunflower seed near the sole remaining auto-feeder. Anyone in Nelson who has ever followed a bus with a kākāriki karaka on the back? It's the same bird.

One of our older kākāriki karaka (he's 4.5 years old), born at Isaac Conservation and Wildlife Trust and released into the Brook when he was a few months old. Still looks very healthy.

Our kākāriki karaka seem to have stopped nesting for the season. Mostly they're snacking in the upper canopy, and in small groups of 2-3 birds mainly. Some are quiet, but occasionally chatter.

I was almost back at the visitor centre and spotted this ruru (morepork). Actually a member of the public had already spotted him/her, which helped! I may have walked straight past.

Decided to watch the other person present rather than me, for a change.

The Owl and the Pussycat

My owl and my pussycat didn't head to sea in a beautiful pea-green boat, but they did keep me entertained for a half hour or so yesterday.

Every morning before heading anywhere I check my rat traps for catches. The trap on a shelf under the eave in a shed above the creek near the house is my most prolific rat catcher by far. So yesterday I checked it as per usual. I was rather surprised to see my resident ruru (who I've named Olly the Owl, who could be Oliver or Olivia, I have no idea) perched next to the trap. Olly glanced at me briefly then eyes narrowed and he/she went (mostly) back to sleep. Needless to say I went inside for my bird camera and fired off a few shots. A moment or two later I was joined by my cat Tinker. Olly paid a lot more attention to Tinker than to me. I think Olly regards me as at worst, harmless, perhaps interesting, or maybe in some way we're friends (or is that just my imagination?) but wasn't quite so sure about Tinker.

I headed inside again to get my other camera, as the 180-600mm bird lens is way too long to get Olly and Tinker in the same shot.

There's nothing quite like being stared at by a ruru.

The owl and the pussycat.

It's not clear unless you zoom right in on the photo, but Olly is peering down at Tinker. Tinker is either disinterested in Olly, or perhaps he has no idea Olly is there.

Here's a close up of Olly not letting Tinker out of his sight.

Olly seems to be asking me "Are you sure he's a good cat?" Actually, Tinker is a good cat. A very good cat. He's a savage beast, and loves to kill mammals. In New Zealand that's a very good thing. Other than pekapeka there are no native land mammals in New Zealand and most introduced mammals do far more harm to the native fauna and flora than good. So when Tinker kills mice, rats, weasels, stoats, rabbits and hares he gets my full seal of approval. His hunting method involves power and speed rather than stealth (he's large and visible), and I think he learned when he was young that it's a waste of energy stalking birds. I have witnessed a few of his kills of large animals (hares) and they are horrifyingly violent, reminding me of a puma with a guanaco, or a leopard with a gazelle.

Olly deciding it's time to chill out.

After a bit of excitement, it's time to go back to sleep.

Tinker also.

By the way, I decided I didn't want to take the chance that Olly would enter the cage trap and get caught in there (no harm would come to him/her but would sure not like it) so I have retired the trap from that location and ordered a bird-safe box with trap from the Predator Free NZ store.

Kākā

On Tuesday, 10th March 2026 three kākā (more are on their way) were translocated into the dedicated kākā aviary at the Brook Waimārama Sanctuary. Six weeks later (28th April) the aviary door was opened and they were given their freedom. They are fed daily nearby while they become accustomed to surviving on natural food.

Their six weeks in the aviary is considered a 'soft release'. The purpose is to ground them to their new location. They grow accustomed to the area, and are fed daily so associate the place with food and comfort. (A 'hard release' were they to be released directly from their transport containers to the freedom of the forest would likely have resulted in their departure, as they tried to head 'home'.)

On Sunday I saw them for the first time since their translocation (I'd been busy elsewhere in the Sanctuary, and was also happy to wait until they were free birds before paying them a visit).

Some photos from Sunday. Lighting is poor, most of these were shot in the 40 - 64,000 ISO range, hence the 'smudged' look of the areas lacking detail (grey feathers etc).

Here one of the males snacks on provided food from one of the feeders.

He's looking for more under the feeder tray.

Claws are hands in the parrot world.

A feather detail of his neck band from the first photo in this post. I like the fiery colours.

Even more fiery underneath.

Snacking on apples.

Kākāriki karaka - feet are 'hands'

As a useful tool for grounding the original kākāriki karaka during the reintroduction in 2021 - 2023, auto-feeders were emplaced to distribute sunflower seed up to four times daily. Most have since been removed, but there is some benefit in keeping a feeder active, for two main reasons. When the females stop using the feeder in spring it suggests that nesting has begun (the females will be on nests). Also, the life-expectancy of this species in original beech forest is not known, and continued monitoring of the translocated birds via the trail-camera (until none remain) will allow a calculation of life expectancy. This is likely to require monitoring for quite a few years to come. It's not essential data, but is on the 'nice to have' list. The feeders are used mostly by translocated birds (with leg bands) and a few unbanded birds who developed a sunflower-seed habit. The feeder is not essential, we could remove it tomorrow with no adverse consequences for any of the birds, but some of them like a daily (or weekly, or less) snack on sunflower seed out of habit.

Anyway, the feeder is a good place to watch our birds... feeding. 😊 Here's a sequence with one of our Sanctuary-born birds snacking on sunflower seed and using his claw in the same way a primate would use a hand.

He takes a whole sunflower seed.

Then he cracks it.

I missed the next shot with the husk dropping off the edge. Now he's got the edible part of the seed in his beak ready to grab the bottom half while he bites off the top half.

He firmly holds half the seed in his hand - I mean claw - while taking the first bite. Reminds me of a primate (monkey, or human etc) eating a banana.

He's dropped a bit. It may drop on the ground and be eaten by something else (mice probably) or if it's dropped on the tray then it'll be eaten by himself (or another kākāriki karaka) or a finch.

Looks like he's finished that mouthful. Ready for the other half.

He grabs the other half with his beak and eats it.