Three kākā take flight – let them be wild

Have you been tuning into our kākā cam? 🐦
Be sure to stop by our website and check out our live kākā cam!
🌐 www.brooksanctuary.org.nz/live-camera
Soon, these three remarkable birds will spread their wings and explore their new home.
This translocation was carried out in partnership with Ngāti Apa ki te Rā Tō
and @Natureland Zoo & Department of Conservation.

Next week, three kākā will leave the aviary at Brook Waimārama Sanctuary and head into the bush above the upper Brook Valley. It is a moment our team has been working toward for a long time, and one I hope the wider Nelson community will share in.

Kākā are one of New Zealand’s most charismatic forest birds. Loud, curious, and remarkably intelligent, they were once common across Te Tauihu. Habitat loss and predation pushed them out of many parts of the region, and bringing them back takes patience, infrastructure, and the right conditions. The sanctuary’s predator-free environment has made it possible to hold and prepare birds for release, and the upper Brook, with its mature bush and elevation, gives them a real chance to establish themselves.

I have spent time with these three birds in the aviary over recent weeks. Watching them move into open forest for the first time is something that will be very special. This is what we have been working toward: birds living as they should, foraging for themselves, finding their place in the forest. Wild.

But their success now depends on more than what happens inside the fence. It depends on all of us.

If you are walking in the Brook Valley or surrounding area and you hear that unmistakable call or catch a flash of olive-brown in the canopy, please enjoy the moment. Take a photo. Share it with your whānau. These sightings matter, and we love hearing about them.

What we ask is that you do not feed them. I know it is tempting. Kākā are bold birds, and they will approach people. But human food disrupts their natural foraging behaviour and can make them dependent on handouts. A bird that loses the instinct to forage for itself is a bird that cannot thrive in the wild, and it can undermine years of conservation work.

The best thing you can do for these kākā is simple: let them be wild.
Nelson has always had a strong conservation community. Brook Waimārama Sanctuary exists because of that. This release is another step in a longer journey, and we are grateful to be taking it alongside this city.

Keep your eyes on the treetops.

Click here to find out more…