Expedition after Kakapo

Press, Volume CXVI, Issue 34048, 12 January 1976, Page 16

Expedition after Kakapo

(N.Z. Press Association) INVERCARGILL. Four men of the Wildlife Service are on an expedition into Sinbad Valley, Fiordland, to investigate the existence of one of New Zealand’s rarest birds, the Kakapo.

Messrs R. Anderson, the leader of Whangarei, R. Morris and S. McGill, both of Wellington, and D. Murray, a ranger, of Hokitika, have split into two pairs. One will move into the high plateau in Tutok'o Valley and attempt to capture two birds discovered there in the latter part of last year. One of these is a male, but because of the lack of a

method of sexing, it is uncertain if the other is a female. During the mating season the male kakapo makes a noise known as booming, which is quite descriptive of the sound. It is widely believed that the species mate only every two or three years. Booming was heard last season, and the men were caught by surprise when they heard the call of a male bird quite close to their camp last week. The claim that the birds mate only in odd years has been refuted before, and the expedition’s experience would tend to strengthen this. Tracks and bowls made by the birds and discovered in the area last season were

found to have been used recently. The bowls are believed to be used by kakapos as dusting places. The wildlife expedition hopes to capture female birds for Maude Island in the Marlborough Sounds, where they already have three birds thriving. Two of them are males, but the other is unsexed as yet. Last year there was a lot of activity among the few remaining birds that exist almost solely in the remote Fiordland back country. Mr D. Merton, a senior officer with the Wildlife Service, said last night from Wellington that it was possible that the use of recorded mating calls in December was a reason for the renewed activity of the male birds in the display grounds. The booming encountered by the expedition will enable it to determine the number of males present, and aid it in capturing any females attracted by the calls. Breeding extends from December to February, and it has been suggested that there may be a second brood. The kakapo, although winged, is flightless, but is capable of gliding down a slope. Its lack of flight has made it vulnerable, not so much to animal predators as

to the advance of man It has gradually retreated into the fastnesses of such places as the spurs and ridges of Fiordland.

Mr Merton said there is no certainty that the kakapo has been breeding in the area as they are of the parrot family and might live as long as 50 or more years. So the males booming in Fiordland may be the last of the kakapos, without any females to perpetuate the species.