Kākāpō escapees continue to be trailblazers (2024)

Four of Waikato’s former resident kākāpō continue to be trailblazers, albeit not in the same region.

After being evicted from the Sanctuary Mountain Maungatautari (SMM) habitat trial due to too many escapes, Elwin, Kanawera, Manawanui and Motupōhue have been relocated to the South Island.

They made the move to a new habitat trial on Coal Island Te Puka-Hereka in Fiordland on Friday, May 24.

There are currently still four kākāpō living in the Waikato.

The Department of Conservation (DoC), Te Rūnanga o Ngāi Tahu and the Coal Island Trust said the four male birds were settling into their new 1163ha home.

Like the Sanctuary Mountain Maungatautari trial, the Coal Island project’s goal is to investigate whether it can help to address the kākāpō habitat shortage.

As Coal Island Te Puka-Hereka has a similar habitat and proximity to existing breeding islands, it could be the next key site to house a larger, breeding kākāpō population.

DoC operations manager for kākāpō Deidre Vercoe said the Coal Island Trust had done incredible work over the past few decades to turn the island into a haven for many native species.

“With a breeding season predicted for 2026, we are looking at new sites to relieve population pressure on the islands that kākāpō currently live on,” Vercoe said.

Coal Island Trust chair Ali King said the kākāpō transfer was a big highlight for the trust.

“So many trustees and volunteers have worked tirelessly for the past 20 years to help make this day possible – this is a huge milestone in our history and will also have deep significance for our iwi partners,” King said.

“We have already seen Haast tokoeka/kiwi reintroduced in 2009, followed by yellowhead/mohua and New Zealand robin/toutouwai in 2015 and now these young male kākāpō will call Te Puka-Hereka their home – I couldn’t be happier.”

Ngāi Tahu representative on the Kākāpō Recovery Group, Tāne Davis, said Ngāi Tahu had first investigated the island as a potential new habitat for kākāpō in 2017.

“This mahi gives us hope that this trial will be successful and will extend the available habitat for kākāpō in future,” Davis said.

As with any new site, there were some unknowns, Vercoe said.

A focus for the island was to enhance stoat monitoring and trialling new control techniques, however, the kākāpō chosen for the trial were fully grown and weigh between 2kg and 4kg, so DoC believed them to be at low risk of stoat predation.

There were no plans to introduce females to the Coal Island Te Puka-Hereka trial at this stage, Vercoe said.

“Ultimately, we need more predator-free sites to give kākāpō the best chance to thrive. In the meantime, with the population increasing each breeding season, we need to investigate other options.”

Who are the four trailblazing kākāpō?

Motupōhue, 4, was part of the first historic kākāpō translocation to the Waikato in July last year.

He was part of a group of four, which were the first kākāpō in decades to live on the mainland.

He came to Sanctuary Mountain Maungatautari from Whenua Hou Codfish Island near Rakiura Stewart Island.

Elwin, 15, Kanawera, 7, and Manawanui, 4, moved to Sanctuary Mountain Maungatautari, located between Te Awamutu and Putāruru, in August last year, as part of a group of six, which brought the Waikato’s kākāpō population up to 10.

Sanctuary Mountain Maungatautari was chosen for the trial as it is the largest predator-fenced habitat in the country.

It covers an area of 3400ha that is separated into different enclosures and surrounded by 47km of predator-proof fence.

In preparation for the translocation, SMM “kākāpō-proofed” 38km of that fence with 400mm of thin stainless steel, which was meant to prevent the birds from climbing out.

The birds have a two-strike policy which means if a bird departs from the sanctuary twice, they will be removed from the trial. All of the birds are fitted with backpack-style transmitters and GPS units to track their location.

In October 2023, news broke that despite all efforts, one kākāpō had escaped the fenced sanctuary. He was retrieved safe and sound about a week after his escape. It was believed the bird used a downed tree to boost himself over the fence.

Motupōhue escaped on two occasions in November.

Manawanui and Kanawera have not breached the fence, however, they created a high monitoring workload by spending a lot of time near it, so the SMM team decided to remove the duo from the trial in November as well.

Elwin made the news in January after he narrowly escaped death, thanks to a local tanker driver. He was relocated back to his home the same month.

Sanctuary Mountain Maungatautari kākāpō update

There are currently still four kākāpō living in the Waikato.

They are Tautahi, 4, Bunker, 4, Ōtepoti, 4, and Taeatanga, 9.

SMM visitor experience manager Tali Jellyman said all birds recently passed their health checks and were doing well.

Tautahi had kept the team on their toes playing hide and seek, with Jellyman saying the bird was good at hiding up in trees.

The team was continuing to trial alternative monitoring technology.

SMM is hosting a gala auction and dinner to raise funds to further support the current habitat trial.

The event will be held on June 5 from 6pm at Sir Don Rowlands Centre, Mighty River Domain, Lake Karapiro. Tickets are available online via events.humanitix.com/mauri-of-the-maunga.

Sanctuary Mountain Maungatautari trial timeline

What are kākāpō?

Kākāpō are nocturnal and flightless parrots which are native to New Zealand.

They are critically endangered and have been recovering from a population low of 51 birds in 1995, and at one point were believed to be extinct.

Since 2016 the population doubled to reach a high of 252 birds in 2022, and their island homes are almost at capacity.

The current kākāpō population is 247.

Danielle Zollickhofer is a multimedia journalist and assistant news director at the Waikato Herald. She joined NZME in 2021 and is based in Hamilton.

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