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| Two juvenile kaka from Zealandia playing. Photo David Brooks |
The kaka (North Island parrot) of Zealandia are now becoming more visible throughout the city of Wellington. Fifteen years ago they were extinct in the Wellington area. From a population of fourteen birds raised in Auckland Zoo and released into Zealandia there now must be 500 or more living in the urban environment of Wellington.
I had the pleasure of being a nest monitor this year and kept a watch on ten chicks as they grew from fluff balls to fledglings. It gives me a warm feeling to think they are out on their own now and enjoying a life in a city that welcomes (well mostly) their presence.
The young birds spend a couple of years in gangs, hooning about before they settle down to finding a partner and raising their own chicks. They are beginning to nest outside the Sanctuary and Trellessick Park is a great place for them to move into. For the past thirty years people have been replanting and caring for the Ngaio Gorge area, keeping the stream clean and building walkways through it. Trellessick Park is included in the area.
People who live along its boundaries are lucky to have native bush all around yet live within minutes of the city. As yet they have not landed in our garden but I see and hear them flying overhead quite regularly. We have plenty of native trees to attract them in so I am sure one dayI shall look out my window and see them looking back at me. It is great to see a video like the one below which shows how kaka and Wellingtonians are appreciating each others company.
