The world's rarest and most unlikely parrot is having one of its best years ever — and New Zealand is celebrating.
The **kākāpō** — the world's heaviest parrot, completely flightless, nocturnal, and critically endangered — is currently in the middle of its **first breeding season in four years**, and the numbers are extraordinary. As of early March 2026, **59 healthy chicks have hatched**, 140 fertile eggs have been identified, and 62 nests have been located across the three predator-free islands that serve as the species' last refuge.
Conservationists at New Zealand's Department of Conservation say this season could challenge or surpass the current record of **73 fledglings set in 2019** — and the season isn't over yet.
**Why Now?**
Kākāpō don't breed every year. They breed in response to the **rimu tree's mast fruiting** — a phenomenon where rimu trees across the forest simultaneously produce an enormous abundance of fruit, providing the energy-rich food kākāpō females need to raise chicks. This season's rimu fruiting is estimated at **50–60 percent across all three breeding islands**, meaning conditions are near-perfect.
It's the first mast since 2022, which is why this season is so anticipated. In years without rimu fruiting, the birds simply don't nest.
**A Species Pulled Back from the Edge**
The kākāpō story is one of conservation's most remarkable turning points. In the 1990s, the population had **collapsed to just 51 individuals** — victims of introduced predators, habitat loss, and decades of decline. The New Zealand Department of Conservation, in partnership with Ngāi Tahu (the indigenous iwi with deep cultural ties to the bird), launched the **Kākāpō Recovery Programme** in 1995.
The strategy: move every surviving bird to predator-free offshore islands, protect their eggs, supplement their food during breeding seasons, and carefully manage their genetic diversity.
It worked. The population now stands at **236 adults** ahead of this breeding season — an extraordinary turnaround from the brink. The first chick of 2026, named **Tīwhiri-A1-2026**, hatched on Valentine's Day, February 14th — a fitting date for good news.
**This Season's Approach**
Interestingly, this year the recovery team has adopted **lower-intervention strategies** — allowing more eggs to hatch in nests rather than incubators, reducing supplementary feeding for some birds, and prioritising checks for genetically valuable eggs rather than every single nest. The goal is to move towards a more self-sustaining population, one that's less dependent on intensive human management.
The team still monitors every chick via radio transmitter and weight check — but the shift signals growing confidence in the population's resilience.
**What Comes Next**
With 236 adults going into the season and potentially 60+ new fledglings being added, the kākāpō population could meaningfully grow this year. Conservationists are also working on the long-term goal of returning kākāpō to their **former range across mainland New Zealand** — something that would require vastly expanded predator control, but is now at least imaginable.
For now, 59 chicks, 140 fertile eggs, and a species that was nearly gone: that's the story. And it's still being written.
