Birds of New Zealand Birds of New Zealand The birds of New Zealand evolved into an avifauna that included a large number of endemic species (that is, species found in no other country). As an island archipelago New Zealand accumulated bird diversity and when Captain James Cook arrived in the 1770s he noted that the bird song was deafening. The mix includes species with unusual biology such as the kakapo which is the world's only flightless, nocturnal, lek (competitive display) breeding parrot, but also many species that are similar to neighboring land areas. A process of colonization, speciation and extinction has been at play
Kakapo annual health check and has their transmitter replaced. The Kakapo Recovery programme has been successful, with the numbers of kakapo increasing steadily. Adult survival rate and productivity have both improved significantly since the programme's inception. However, the main goal is to establish at least one viable, self-sustaining, unmanaged population of kakapo as a functional component of the ecosystem in a protected habitat. To help meet this conservation challenge, Resolution Island (20,860 ha) in Fiordland has been prepared for kakapo re-introduction with ecological restoration including the eradication of stoats. Ultimately, the Kakapo Recovery vision for the species is to restore the