Kākāpō Goings On episode of Kākāpō Files II

The oldest chick of the 2026 kākāpō breeding season, Tiwhiri-A1 has reached 150 days old and can be officially counted. This milestone increases the kākāpō population by one bird to 236, the first tim...

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Our Changing World: Getting ready for H5N1 bird flu

This article has been updated to clarify that this particular *pandemic* only started in 2020, although bird flu has been lurking for much longer.

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Suspected detection of H5 strain of bird flu in WA, which would mark first detection in Australia

The first suspected case of a deadly strain of bird flu that has killed millions of birds and mammals worldwide has been found in Western Australia, the federal government has confirmed.

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Kākāpō Files II 18 | Good Kākāpō Things Take Time episode of Wild Sounds: Kākāpō Files II

Six months after this record-breaking kākāpō breeding season began, all 91 living chicks have fledged and left the nest. The chicks remain with their kākāpō mums and are still being fed by them, as we...

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Kākāpō Adoption Birds episode of Kākāpō Files II

Half of the chicks from this record-breaking kākāpō breeding season have fledged and left their nests for good, but are still being fed by their mums. The tally of living chicks has dropped to 92 with...

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Kākāpō Files II 16 | Kākāpō Chicks Growing Up episode of Wild Sounds: Kākāpō Files II

The tally of confirmed living kākāpō chicks goes down with two further deaths, but gets a welcome boost with the confirmation of a living chick in a previously inaccessible nest. This brings the numbe...

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Kākāpō Files II 15 | Kākāpō Island Diary episode of Wild Sounds: Kākāpō Files II

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...

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Biggest Kākāpō Breeding Season episode of Kākāpō Files II

DOC’s Kākāpō Recovery Programme says that the 2026 kākāpō breeding season is officially the biggest on record, and that all chicks have now hatched. At least 256 eggs were laid in 80 nests, of which a...

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Kākāpō Files II 11 | Kākāpō Baby Boom episode of Wild Sounds: Kākāpō Files II

Fourteen kākāpō chicks have hatched in wild nests, where they are being cared for by mums and foster mums. More than a hundred viable fertile eggs have already been laid, with more expected in the nex...

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Kākāpō Files II podcast

Following the next breeding season of the world’s favourite parrot.

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The First Chick episode of Kākāpō Files II

The first chick of the 2026 kākāpō breeding season has successfully hatched on Pukenui/Anchor Island. DOC’s Kākāpō Recovery Programme reports that Tiwhiri-A1-2026 hatched in foster mother Yasmine’s ne...

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Nesting Time episode of Kākāpō Files II

Almost 90% of adult female kākāpō of breeding age have mated so far this breeding season, and two thirds of those are nesting. Some birds have already laid a full clutch of eggs and while some clutche...

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Peak Breeding episode of Kākāpō Files II

More than three-quarters of female kākāpō of breeding age have mated so far, and the number of nests is growing rapidly. Kākāpō operations manager Deidre Vercoe tells Alison Ballance that 101 eggs hav...

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Kākāpō Files II 01 | The Birds are Back episode of Wild Sounds: Kākāpō Files II

The Kākāpō Files returns for a second season, to follow everyone’s favourite parrot through what is predicted to be the biggest breeding season on record. In episode 1, host Alison Ballance and Our Changing World’s Claire Concannon chat about what exactly is a kākāpō, discuss the conservation history of this endangered bird through the life story of two kākāpō, and discover just how big this breeding season might be.

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