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Kakapo Boom Through the Night
A bumper crop of fruit led to a bumper crop of young birds
© Jake Osborne, CC
Kakapos are large, flightless parrots unique to New Zealand. Hoping to attract females, several males gather in a “lek.” They sing at the same time, and the deep-pitched notes carry a long distance. Females may wander in from as much as a mile away. This booming competition goes on for several months. These rare parrots breed only every five years or so, when there is plenty of rimu fruit to feed the chicks.
BirdNote®
Kakapo Boom Through the Night
Written by Bob Sundstrom
This is BirdNote.
[Kakapo male booming https://www.doc.govt.nz/globalassets/documents/conservation/native-anim…, all of 1.02-1.25 is good quality]
After dark, a deep booming echoes from atop a mountain ridge in New Zealand.
[Kakapo male booming https://www.doc.govt.nz/globalassets/documents/conservation/native-anim…, all of 1.02-1.25 is good quality]
It’s the song of a male Kakapo, a large flightless parrot unique to New Zealand. In what’s called a “lek,” several males sing at the same time, each hoping to attract females to breed with. The deep-pitched notes carry a long distance. Females a mile away may begin walking—OK, maybe waddling might be a better description — toward the sound.
This booming competition goes on for several months. Each male Kakapo sings from a shallow depression on the ground, which he has dug. He wears down pathways to guide the females to his hangout. And in case the females need a bit more help finding him in the dark, he makes this sharp call: [male Kakapo “ching” call: https://www.doc.govt.nz/globalassets/documents/conservation/native-anim…, 0.00-0.04]
In any given area, one male kakapo will emerge victorious and breed with the majority of females.
[male Kakapo “ching” call: https://www.doc.govt.nz/globalassets/documents/conservation/native-anim…, 0.00-0.04]
Kakapo are endangered. These rare parrots breed only every five years or so, when there is plenty of rimu fruit to feed the chicks. During the 2018-2019 breeding season, a bumper crop of the red, berry-sized fruit led to record survival of young birds — a beacon of hope for New Zealand’s iconic walking parrot.
For BirdNote, I’m Michael Stein.
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Producer: John Kessler
Executive Producer: Sallie Bodie
Editor: Ashley Ahearn
Associate Producer: Ellen Blackstone
Producer: Mark Bramhill
Bird sounds provided by govt.nz/globalassets.
BirdNote’s theme was composed and played by Nancy Rumbel and John Kessler.
© 2020 BirdNote June 2020 Narrator: Michael Stein
ID# kakapo-02-2020-06-02 kakapo-02
Rimu is pronounced REE-moo, with a rolled R; see https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oKxUEsF88bU at 3:22
Sources:
[lots of information at this site: https://www.doc.govt.nz/kakapo-recovery]
https://collections.tepapa.govt.nz/topic/1010
https://www.doc.govt.nz/news/media-releases/2019/kakapo-population-reac…
https://www.google.com/amp/s/phys.org/news/2015-11-rimu-berry-game-chan…
Bob Sundstrom
Writer