RNZ: Kākāpō Files

Coming soon to RNZ Podcasts is the new series Voice of Tangaroa, exploring the state of our oceans, and the extraordinary variety of life that calls it home. Released weekly from Thursday 29 February, you can find the episodes in the Voice of Tangaroa or Our Changing World podcast feed wherever you get your podcasts.

Alison Ballance joins the kākāpō recovery team on Pukenui Anchor Island to hear how the 2021/2022 kākāpō breeding season is going.

The 2019 kākāpō chicks are becoming independent and birds sent to be scanned for aspergillosis are getting clean bills of health, in part 8 of Voice of the Kākāpō.

A deadly fungal disease strikes the kākāpō population on Whenua Hou and the Kākāpō Recovery team calls on New Zealand wildlife vets to help, in part 7 of Voice of the Kākāpō..

The kākāpō eggs are hatching, and chicks are being hand-reared or returned to their mother's nest ... but not every chick is thriving, in part 6 of Voice of the Kākāpō .

The tally of infertile eggs is climbing and the kākāpō team is using artificial insemination - and a drone - to try and counter the problem, in part 5 of Voice of the Kākāpō.

Most of the female kākāpō have bred and the team is carrying precious fertile eggs to the 'egg room' for incubation, in part 4 of Voice of the Kākāpō .

Kākāpō breeding is in full swing after an early start, and DOC's Deidre Vercoe and Andrew Digby are checking to see if eggs are fertile, in part 3 of Voice of the Kākāpō.

The kākāpō team know all the signs are good for a big kākāpō breeding season - the question is exactly how big and when will it start? Part 2 of Voice of the Kākāpō.

The kākāpō is a giant flightless parrot whose fortunes are tied to the rimu tree and to a dedicated team of rangers from the Department of Conservation.

The youngest kākāpō chick has passed 150 days old, bringing the number of living juveniles to 71 and the overall  kākāpō population to 213, in ep 24 of the Kākāpō Files.

The kākāpō chicks are graduating to being juveniles and only seven birds are still sick with aspergillosis, in ep 23 of the Kākāpō Files.

Paternity testing has revealed who the top kākāpō dads are, as well as the success of the artificial insemination programme, in ep 22 of the Kākāpō Files.

The kākāpō health crisis is stable, with no further cases of aspergillosis diagnosed, and seven hand-reared chicks have been successfully released in the wild, in ep 21 of the Kākāpō Files.

Kākāpō death toll from aspergillosis rises by one to seven, while nine birds have been given a clean bill of health. Sad and positive news from the frontline of the fight to save kākāpō, in ep 20 of the Kākāpō Files.

The number of cases of aspergillosis in the kākāpō population continues to rise, with 30 birds on the mainland for testing & treatment. The deaths of Huhana and Merty drop the adult population to 142, in ep 19 of the Kākāpō Files.

A spate of kākāpō chicks deaths from a fungal pneumonia caused by aspergillosis has DOC's Kākāpō Recovery Team very worried. Two further adult deaths bring the population to 144 birds with 73 living chicks, all in ep 18 of the Kākāpō Files.

The death of Hoki from a fungal infection brings the number of adult kākāpō to 146, while there are 77 chicks. Ep 17 of the Kākāpō Files includes a visit to Anchor Island & all the latest news.

With 75 living chicks and the final three eggs due to hatch this week, the 2019 kākāpō breeding season is set to be the longest on record. All this & the sex ratio of the first 49 chicks, in ep 16 of the Kākāpō Files.

Most of the 72 kākāpō chicks are thriving in wild nests, the males are winding down their booming, and there are 7 fertile eggs still to hatch, in ep 15 of the Kākāpō Files.

Kākāpō chick numbers continue to climb. The latest tally is 64 chicks, including one named Kotahitanga, meaning unity and solidarity. Ep 14 of the Kākāpō Files.

Thirty four kākāpō chicks are putting on plenty of weight in wild nests as the rimu fruit ripens, and 23 chicks are also being hand-reared, in episode 13 of the Kākāpō Files.

Volunteers from around the world are helping the kākāpō team, with tasks ranging from feeding birds and people, looking after the power system on Whenua Hou and studying kākāpō sperm. We meet them in episode 12 of the Kākāpō Files.

There is a hard-working team of island rangers helping save kākāpō, working day and night, and the chick tally has reached 44, in episode 11 of the Kākāpō Files.

In a world-first for kākāpō conservation, a drone (nicknamed the 'spermcopter') has flown kākāpō sperm across Whenua Hou / Codfish Island - the Kākāpō Files was there for episode 10.

There is good news from down south, where the endangered kākāpō is having its best breeding season ever. No one is game enough to predict exactly how many chicks might make it to adulthood, but the numbers look promising.  Kākāpō Files producer Alison Ballance has just been down to Whenua Hou / Codfish Island to check on the action.

More than 160 kākāpō eggs have been laid and the first 21 chicks have hatched, but there is also news of the first chick death, in episode 9 of the Kākāpō Files.

The chicks that have hatched are off to Dunedin, the females have started mating again, and there is breeding action on Hauturu, all in episode 8 of the Kākāpō Files.

The first two chicks of the 2019 kākāpō breeding season have hatched and the exciting news keeps coming in, in episode 7 of the Kākāpō Files.

Forty eight out of fifty kākāpō females on the southern islands have mated, nesting is well underway and the first AI has been carried out, all in episode 6 of the Kākāpō Files.

The most popular kākāpō males will get a chance to do it all over again as the females are encouraged to mate and nest for a second time, in episode 5 of the Kākāpō Files.

Don't count your kākāpō chicks until they hatch, kākāpō leaky homes and lots more kākāpō sex, all in episode 4 of the Kākāpō Files.

Kākāpō breeding action really kicked off on Christmas Eve and in episode 3 of the Kākāpō Files we discover it is in full swing.

In episode 2 of the Kākāpō Files we find out that when it comes to kākāpō breeding the early birds are, well, very early.

The kākāpō is one of the world's rarest birds, and in the first episode of the Kākāpō Files we learn about the giant flightless parrot's 'love triangle.'