Kākāpō Files II 15 | Kākāpō Island Diary

Alison Ballance spends a week on Whenua Hou/Codfish Island, one of three kākāpō breeding islands. She follows rangers from DOC’s Kākāpō Recovery Programme as they go about their daily and nightly nest visits to check on the rapidly growing chicks. All but one of the 23 nests on Whenua Hou have just a single chick, as the rimu fruit has failed to ripen and kākāpō mums are relying on supplementary food to raise their chicks. During the week, the chick Queenie-A3 is found dead, and there is news from Pukenui/Anchor Island of another chick dying in a flash flood that swept through the nest.Send any Kākāpō Files questions and comments to kakapo@rnz.co.nz.In this episode:00:00 – Introduction01:12 – Sick chick Pearl-B305:32 – Chick check at Suzanne’s nest09:53 – Young male booming11:18 – qPCR sex testing14:11 – Chick check at Tiaka’s nest17:44 - Dead chick Queenie-A320:16 - Nest controller and the ‘train station’24:18 – Supplementary feeding27:25 – Chick dies in nest flood29:05 – Heather’s nest check & closing thoughts33:42 - Update on Pearl-B335:22 - Closing credits…Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details