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The only parrot to have a polygynous lek breeding system sits on an egg
Livestream from the nest site of female kākāpō Rakiura on the remote, predator-free island of Whenua Hou/Codfish Island in Aotearoa, New Zealand The New Zealand Department of Conservation has setup a livestream of the female kākāpō Rakiura on the remote, predator-free island of Whenua Hou/Codfish Island in Aotearoa, New Zealand.
Rakiura is the Maori name for Stewart Island, the large island at the bottom end of the South Island; Rakiura means 'glowing skies', and comes from the southern lights, the aurora australis.
Rakiura hatched on 19 February 2002 on Whenua Hou/Codfish Island. She is the offspring of Flossie and Bill. Her name comes from the te reo Māori name for Stewart Island, the place where most of the founding kākāpō population originated.
Rakiura has nine living descendants, three females and six males, across six breeding seasons. In 2008 came Tōitiiti, in 2009 Tamahou and Te Atapō, in 2011 Tia and Tūtoko, in 2014 Taeatanga and Te Awa, in 2019 Mati-mā and Tautahi. She also has many grandchicks.
Kākāpō are the world's only flightless parrot, the world's heaviest parrot, and also is nocturnal, herbivorous, visibly sexually dimorphic in body size, has a low basal metabolic rate, and does not have male parental care. It is the only parrot to have a polygynous lek breeding system. It is also possibly one of the world's longest-living birds, with a reported lifespan of up to 100 years.
A kākāpō famously appeared with Stephen Fry in the BBC documentary 'Last Chance to See' where Sirocco attempted to mate with zoologist Mark Carwardine.
posted by phigmov on Jan 23, 2026 at 11:07 AM
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Note - Rakiura comes and goes from the nest, if you jump to the video timestamp 2026-01-23 22:00:00 (or jump back 10 hours in the livestream as of the time of this post) you'll see several hours of Rakiura preparing the nest site. Otherwise the nest site is currently unattended however the egg is visible. The stream itself has audio too - you get to hear other ambient forest sounds.
posted by phigmov at 11:14 AM
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I visited New Zealand in December 2019 / January 2020 which at the time I believed was the beginning of a 2020 filled with exciting travel adventures. Something something God something something the plans of men. Interestingly enough one of the other people in our tour group was Director of Los Angeles County Department of Health Barbara Ferrer and when we brought up the topic of the illness people were hearing was happening in China at the time she replied that if she had to fly back to Los Angeles early we should pay close attention.
Reader, she had to fly back to Los Angeles early.
Anyway, I encountered a pair of kākāpō in Makarora who enjoyed screaming at night and I feel blessed to have seen them. I wish all the best to every kākāpō as well as all other flightless birds.
posted by Parasite Unseen at 11:43 AM
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Girlfriend does not appear to have been on the nest in the past six hours. How long can an egg just... sit there?
(If she has decided motherhood is not for her, especially in the current political climate, or that she is just done mothering offspring, I fully support her right to choose.)
posted by DarlingBri at 1:11 PM
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According to the stream description notes from DoC -
Kākāpō have been known to lay five eggs but more commonly have three or four egg clutches. The eggs are usually laid about three days apart. During early incubation the eggs can tolerate cooling and Rakiura could be away from her nest for many hours at a time. She will start sitting with the eggs for longer periods once the entire clutch is laid.
So hopefully a few more eggs to come and then some more regular nesting.
posted by phigmov at 1:32 PM
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Very unsettling, of course, to tune in to see a precious egg sitting in the middle of nowhere with nothing nearby. It really reminds of why the Kakapo was in trouble when a bunch of predators showed up.
posted by Going To Maine at 2:36 PM
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Well, she's there now, tending to her egg right now. I took one look at the size of her egg and thought: ow, that a mighty big egg relative to her size.
posted by effluvia at 3:01 PM
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If you look up the relative sizes of kiwi bird females and their eggs, you'll wish you hadn't.
posted by ocschwar at 3:59 PM
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Aww she's back and all cuddled up with it!
I love how they look like little capybaras on the front, chickens on the back.
posted by DarlingBri at 4:13 PM
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the world's only flightless parrot, the world's heaviest parrot
and also, unfortunately, the world's dumbest parrot. I can't find the link right now, but they've been known to try to mate with discarded towels.
posted by adrienneleigh at 4:24 PM
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She's on the nest now! (Midnight EST).
Note that there are 236 kākāpō left in the world. Efforts to conserve them can be supported here:
https://www.doc.govt.nz/our-work/kakapo-recovery/get-involved/donate/
posted by runincircles at 9:01 PM
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>and also, unfortunately, the world's dumbest parrot.
Yes, I think Kea got the smarts allocation for NZ parrots.
posted by phigmov at 9:41 PM
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I think she's doing beak grinding right now, apparently something some birbs do when they're feeling good?
posted by Nea Imagista at 4:38 AM
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On or off camera, I'm pretty sure she's reasonably nearby. When the egg was just sitting there, I was hearing pretty regular shuffling from outside the frame, and then she just popped up and walked over.
apparently something some birbs do when they're feeling good?
Yeah, generally it's a relaxation thing. There's a lot of beak grinding as parrots start settling down for sleep.
posted by gelfin at 9:56 AM
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FYI - Radio New Zealand has a Kākāpō Files podcast series on mating/matches of individual birds, remote-monitoring, nesting/incubation patterns etc. The last episode was from 5 days ago and has mention of the plan to get the nesting web-cam/stream up and running due to the popularity of the bird.
posted by phigmov at 10:36 AM
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