WASHINGTON: Two critically endangered parakeets have been hailed as “super breeders” in New Zealand after the pair produced 55 chicks in two years — increasing the population by more than 10%.
The native k k riki karaka, or orange-fronted parakeet, was declared extinct in 1919 and 1965, only to be rediscovered both times in the depths of mountainous valley areas. It is the country’s rarest parakeet. Now, there are only about 450 left in the wild and in captivity.
Conservationists are doing all they can to prevent the bird from going extinct a third time by creating predator-free sanctuaries and running breeding programmes. Giving them a large helping hand are Trixie and Nacho, two k k riki karaka who live at the Isaac Conservation and Wildlife Trust in Christchurch, in New Zealand’s South Island.
They were paired in 2024 and of the 55 chicks they produced, 33 alone hatched this season, which runs from December to April. In comparison, other pairs in the breeding programme have produced between 10 and 15 chicks, according to Leigh Percasky, wildlife manager at the Isaac Conservation and Wildlife Trust.
Nacho and Trixie, one of the eight pairs at the facility, chose each other. The staff had placed several compatible birds together and let them pick their mates, Percasky said in an interview. That process makes for better pairings, he said.
The two birds are “quite relaxed,” he said, and have distinctive traits that set them apart from other pairs.
“Nacho especially is very inquisitive and is quite interested in what people are doing,” Percasky said. He noted that Trixie is slightly larger than other females. “As a pair they produce bigger-than-normal-sized chicks,” he said.
Many of Nacho and Trixie’s offspring have been released into the wild, he said.
These efforts are led by the Department of Conservation and Te R nanga o Ng i Tahu, the main Indigenous tribe of the South Island. Together they manage a recovery programme focused on monitoring and protecting the sites where the birds live and finding new locations where they can be introduced.
New Zealand is home to 206 breeding bird species, and 94 of them are found nowhere else in the world. Among them are the world’s fattest parrot, the kakapo, and the kiwi, a small bird with a long bill that is the country’s national icon.
Like many native birds, the kakapo and the kiwi are flightless, a trait developed because the country was isolated for millions of years and had no ground dwelling predators such as ferrets and rats until humans introduced them.
The biggest threats to k k riki karaka’s survival are predators, habitat degradation, diseases and climate change.
The country’s captive breeding programme started in 2003, when conservationists took k k riki karaka eggs from the wild and gave them to foster birds to raise.
But the ultimate goal for conservationists is to see the wild bird populations thrive on their own so that captive breeding programmes are no longer needed.
Until then, Nacho and Trixie have more work to do.