Kākāpō helpers

Volunteers from around the world are helping the kākāpō team, with tasks ranging from feeding birds and people, looking after the power system on Whenua Hou and studying kākāpō sperm. We meet them in episode 12 of the Kākāpō Files.

Volunteers are coming from around the world to help with the largest kākāpō breeding season on record.

As the rimu fruit begins to ripen wild kākāpō mothers are being given chicks to look after.

And the egg tally has risen to 223, with 53 living chicks - and still more on the way.

Saving kākāpō is an international effort, with volunteers and visiting experts helping out in various ways.

Electrician Reuben's usual day job is looking after hydropower stations for the Kākāpō Recovery Programme's sponsor Meridian Energy. But a couple of times a year he downsizes and heads to Whenua Hou / Codfish Island to give its power system a health check.

The electricity generation system has evolved over many years and includes a diesel generator, a mini hydro scheme and solar panels.

The electricity is vital for running egg incubators and chick brooders, so Reuben has to keep the system running while he fixes and repairs and improves things.

He likens it to trying to do a service on car while it is full of passengers and driving at a hundred kilometres an hour on the open road.

Feeding the birds

Ian and Mark live in Bristol in the UK but flew - at their own expense - to New Zealand for the opportunity to help out with the kākāpō supplementary feeding programme for 10 days.

Each kākāpō gets a personalised meal plan with a certain amount of parrot pellets. The task of the feed-out volunteers is to prepare the food, then deliver it around the island to each bird's feeding station. They remove any uneaten food, clean the feeding station and replace the freshwater. Each bird gets fed every few days.

Feeding the people

Shrike is an Australian who was keen to be involved in this kākāpō breeding season but didn't think she was up to the feed-out role. So instead of feeding birds she has volunteered to be cook and has the job of feeding all the people on the island, which can number around 16.

Shrike says she has to deal with a range of dietary requirements, get dinner on the table in time for people to head up the hill for the night shift while it is still light. She also gets the opportunity to help out the kākāpō team in the field.

Sperm experts

Helena and Andi are part of a team of four sperm experts from Germany who have been part of the assisted breeding programme. They help collect sperm from male kākāpō and artificially inseminate the females…

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