On February 14th this year — Valentine's Day — a kākāpō chick broke out of its egg for the first time in four years.
The chick was named Tīwhiri-A1-2026, and it was just the beginning.
In the weeks since, 59 healthy kākāpō chicks have hatched across New Zealand's predator-free sanctuary islands — making this one of the most successful breeding seasons in recent memory for the world's most peculiar parrot.
The kākāpō (Strigops habroptilus) is unlike anything else alive. It's the world's largest parrot. It cannot fly. It is strictly nocturnal. It smells of flowers and honey. It can live for nearly a century. And it has been teetering on the edge of extinction for decades.
In the 1990s, the global population had collapsed to just 51 individuals — the result of centuries of habitat destruction and the introduction of predators like rats, cats, and stoats to New Zealand's islands. Every surviving kākāpō was trapped, named, and relocated to a handful of predator-free island sanctuaries.
Since then, the Department of Conservation has run one of the most intensive species management programmes in the world. Every bird is GPS-tracked. Every nest is monitored. Every chick is weighed and checked.
The results, slowly but surely, are adding up.
**The population today: 236 adults** — more than four times the 1990s low. And with 59 new chicks — with more potentially still to hatch — that number is about to climb further.
'Every new chick brings the species further from the brink of extinction,' said Deidre Vercoe, the Department of Conservation's operations manager for kākāpō. 'There's always a sense of hope and optimism for the future.'
Kākāpō can only breed in years when the native rimu tree produces a heavy crop of fruit — which happens roughly every two to four years. When the rimu fruiting season arrives, the birds feast, the females put on enough condition to reproduce, and the forests of these small islands fill with the extraordinary booming calls of males competing for mates.
This is one of those years. And it's going well.
The Department of Conservation shares an update every Friday — the chick tally written in marker on a refrigerator, photographed, and posted online. It has become one of New Zealand's most-followed wildlife bulletins.
140 fertile eggs were identified this season. 52 chicks confirmed hatched. Seven more assumed via remote monitoring technology. The counting continues.
The record was set in 2019, when 73 fledglings made it. This year won't break that record — but it's close. And it is progress.
'Success is not just about the number of new chicks,' Vercoe said. 'We want to create healthy, self-sustaining populations of kākāpō that are thriving, not just surviving.'
The kākāpō has been part of New Zealand's forests for millions of years. It survived volcanic eruptions, climate shifts, and ice ages. It nearly didn't survive the arrival of humans.
But 59 new chicks into the world on a February morning say it's not done yet. 🦜
*Sources: New Zealand Department of Conservation · Mongabay · Kākāpō Recovery Programme*
