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 at least 106 hatched. There are currently 99 chicks alive, three of which are being treated at the Dunedin Wildlife Hospital for various health problems. The oldest chick, Tīwhiri-A1-2026, is 46-days old and weighs 1.8 kg, while the youngest chick, Awarua-A3-2026, weighs 26 grams at 2-days old. Operations manager Deidre Vercoe says that preliminary sexing results show that about 40 percent of the chicks are female, and that rangers are starting to give the older chicks a permanent microchip for identification.

Send any Kākāpō Files questions and comments to [email protected].

In this episode:

00:00 – Introduction

01:16 – Deidre Vercoe with final nest and egg numbers

05:41 – Final chick hatching numbers

11:09 – Planning ahead

13:45 – Dunedin Wildlife Hospital vet Dr Lisa Argilla

20:32 – Rimu fruiting & its role in breeding

27.30 – Supplementary feeding on Whenua Hou

32:10 - Closing credits

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Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details