The kākāriki karaka at the Brook Waimārama Sanctuary are a little later than usual with nesting this year, but seem to have begun in earnest. Here are a couple of nests observed over the last week or two.
Here the male is in a tree about 4m to the left, and has called for his mate, letting her know he's home and has a tummy full of food for her. She must be hungry as out she comes for a feed. They then flew off for a few minutes (perhaps to a creek for a drink and/or bath) and 15 minutes after she left she's back in her nest.
Another nest. Here the male is in a tree about 5m from his nest hole. He calls for his mate, but she doesn't initially make an appearance.
So he flies over to the nest and calls for her from the entrance. Then out she comes.
She dives out to meet her mate who has gone back into the canopy of the tree a few metres from the nest. Note the prominent brood patch, clear evidence she is currently incubating. She has lost her stomach feathers which allows her to directly transfer heat to her eggs.
Begging for food, then being fed.
Then back into her nest to continue egg sitting. Incubation takes about three weeks, but she could spend more time on the job if she has a large clutch.
We'll be keeping an eye on most of the nests we discover, and try to find more. Kākāriki karaka tend to nest in sync with one another (synchronised behaviour and/or responding to the same biological triggers) so if there are a few nests, there will be many more. Finding more nests requires patience and persistence. We have looked at other potential nest sites over the last few weeks (and longer), some were active and some were not. We'll check the inactive sites a few more times this season.
