time for a new thread for the new breeding season to come, hopefully as bountiful as the last which saw the kakapo population go from 91 up to 123 (http://www.zoochat.com/17/kakapo-season-2009-a-63705/). First news for 2010: Kakapo numbers given significant boost - Story - Environment/Sci - 3 News news video here: Kakapo numbers given significant boost - Environment Sci - Video - 3 News
this thread has unfortunately been sitting idle for a while, but now that this year's breeding season is approaching some news has appeared: Kakapo breeding to stretch DOC | Stuff.co.nz
Breeding on 2 islands would be a historical achievement for DOC. Any indication what the rimu fruit season be like this 2010/2011 season? Will they still use volunteers to monitor nests or not (the report was a bit confusing on that)?
having kakapo populations on more than one island has been attempted before (eg, on Little Barrier Island) but without success due to various factors. If they can pull it off this time it will be a fantastic boost for the species; as the population is more robust now than it has been for, well, a very long time it should work. It will also obviously be a good safety net should something terrible happen (eg PBFD getting onto Codfish Island, heaven forbid!) I haven't heard anything myself on the status of the rimu crop. Volunteers will still be used on Codfish as always, but probably not on Anchor due to the terrain and dangerous accessibility (agreed the article wasn't completely clear on that).
@Chlidonias, The past attempts at relocation where probably marred by not knowing best technique and/or insufficient numbers? My experience with reintroductions underlines it is a numbers game. Bring in sufficient numbers quickly and continually over time - allowing for mortalities not to impinge on the complete effort - is the best solution to having a population become robust and viable-sustainable long term. In my mind, any effort - even though it is a costly exercise when well planned and executed is always funds well spent.
I can't really find anything recent enough on Richard Henry to say where he is. He's very old of course and nearly blind, but he has three offspring carrying his Fiordland genes which is good. He may be in the group of spare males that has been removed to a "secret" location.
R.I.P. I hope this godfather of kakapo genes gets a memorial of sorts along the lines "When all hope seemed lost, R.H. was at the heart of the regeneration of a new stock of kakapos bringing it back from the brink of definite extinction. We remember with fondness and humbled.
Any other news on the progress of the breeding? I was pondering whilst reading the panda thread whether there was anything I'd actually travel very far just to see - I think I've now got an answer! I was talking to someone last year who was working on a conservation project on or near Stewart Island and she'd been to Codfish Island, she said she wasn't that excited before she went but they were amazing!
the birds should be getting into breeding mode in the next few weeks. The population as of now is 121 birds following the death of Stewart Island provenance male Sass in February 2010, Stewart Island provenance female Sarah in May 2010 and the last of the Fiordland provenance birds, male Richard Henry in late December 2010.
nope, the absence of Fiordland females somewhat precluded that possibility. The only known kakapo in recent historical times have all been from Fiordland and Stewart Island. Some history of the two populations: Fiordland: By the 1960s there were very few kakapo left in Fiordland and they were probably all old males (estimates of Richard Henry's age ranged from 80 to over 130, based on the supposition that once mustelids reached Fiordland there wouldn't have been any chicks coming through to adulthood and the females would have been being killed in their burrows). The five captured in 1961 and sent to Mt Bruce for an attempted captive breeding programme were all male as it turned out (at the time it wasn't known how to sex kakapo visually). A proper effort to try and save the species started in 1974 when surveys began in an attempt to establish how many birds were actually in Fiordland. Two males (at the time thought to be male and female and hence named Jonathon and Jill) were caught that year and moved to Maud Island in Cook Strait. Richard Henry was caught in 1975 and also moved to Maud Island. In all, between 1974 and 1978 just eighteen kakapo, all male, were caught in Fiordland as well as two more in 1981. All were moved to Maud Island and none of them except Richard Henry survived. In 1986 and 1987 there were known to be about four male kakapo remaining in Fiordland but they proved impossible to catch and they were not seen alive again. Stewart Island: Almost every kakapo alive today is either an actual individual or a descendant of a surprise population discovered on Stewart Island in January 1977. It was estimated that the population in this one area was about 200 birds. A female caught there in 1980 was the first to be seen in over 70 years. In 1982 seven females and eleven males were transferred to Little Barrier Island. Unfortunately feral cats were killing the Stewart Island kakapo with increasing frequency (it was thought the cats were gaining easier access to the forest via the tracks the kakapo researchers were cutting) and the decision was made in 1985 to move all the remaining birds to Codfish Island which had recently been cleared of possums and introduced weka, as well as to Maud and Mana Islands. By 1992 a total of 61 kakapo had been caught and moved, as well as a single additional female in 1997. And that was all there were left. Richard Henry: This male was caught in Fiordland in 1975 and moved to Maud Island. He was later transferred to Little Barrier Island but he never took part in the booming activities of the Stewart Island males that were moved there in 1982, so in 1996 he was moved back to Maud Island along with an outcast Little Barrier female called Flossie with whom he bred and produced a clutch of three chicks in 1998. These chicks are Sinbad and Gulliver (males) and Kuia (female). They are all still alive and are the only surviving birds carrying Fiordland genes. Richard Henry as noted earlier in the thread died in late December 2010.
I didn't realise 18 Kakapo had been translocated from Fiordland! In the book 'Quest for the Kakapo' which has a long and detailed chapter on the searches for and attempts to capture Fiordland birds during this period, particularly females for captive breeding, little mention is made of these birds, apart from a brief 'throwaway' sentence saying 18 birds had been 'found' by 1978. Though it does describe in detail the capture of the initial two Kakapo, 'Jack' & 'Jill' (who was another male obviously) and later also 'Richard Henry' Presumably 17 birds later lost was not something they wanted made public for posterity in a book! This seems to have been 'disguised' by not mentioning either their capture or movement to Maud Island. Though the capture and transfer of the two 1981 birds(Hugo & Mirkwood) is described as both were caught by hand. Two more males(Biscuit & Tawbert) were captured during the 1986/7 searches but there was 'political' disagreement about what should be done with them so transmitters were placed on them to allow for later recapture. One was later removed, the other stopped functioning. By then the focus had moved to finding females in the Stewart Island population and the last few Fiordland males vanished into oblivion. The article doesn't give Richard Henry's location when he died. Any ideas?
I haven't yet been able to discover which island Richard Henry was on, I'll get back to you with that one if I find out. You may be interested (well, you will be interested ) in a brand new book out in 2010 called "Kakapo: rescued from the brink of extinction" by Alison Ballance. It is very very good. Here's a link to it on NHBS but you could probably get it cheaper by ordering it from NZ, perhaps. NHBS - Kakapo - Alison Ballance
@Chlidonias If you should have any suggestions to get it direct off Kiwi shores, I keep myself recommended. I cannot wait untill the new season should get underway .... Any early predictions on the rimu seasons on both islands habitats?
One of my best memories is my first sight of a Kakapo. I spent a day on Stewart Island when they were translocating a few Kakapo to Maud Island. The birds had already got transmitters on so they could be relocated but radio telemetry can only find the rough area they are in. Then a (muzzled) dog was used to actually find the bird in the thick scrub vegetation. When the dog handler came back with a bulging sack I knew they'd been successful. They carefully opened the bag and this beautiful green and rather bedragged bird peered out. Wonderful....
Chlidonias I m actually waiting for the book to get back in stock here in Europe, so good to hear it s a good one. I m as curious as Kifaru and if things work out as I hope I ll finally drop by in the South.