Saving the Orange-Fronted Parakeet | Kākāriki karaka

Kākāriki karaka, the orange-fronted parakeet, is endemic to Aotearoa and classified Threatened–Nationally Critical, the highest threat ranking under the New Zealand Threat Classification System. The birds are small and bright green,, with a thin orange stripe above the beak and a red crown. They are highly social, inquisitive birds who mate for life.  They share parenting duties with the females laying eggs and then once they hatch the male’s job is to race around finding food. 

The population currently sits at 450 birds, with natural fluctuation driven by food availability and predator impacts. In years when the beech forest seeds heavily, the birds breed prolifically; in lean years they barely breed at all. Two wild populations remain, in North Canterbury, in the Hawdon Valley near Arthur’s Pass and in the Hurunui South Branch in Lake Sumner Forest Park. Each currently holds around 50 to 60 birds. These populations peaked at roughly 300 birds in each valley between the early 2000s and 2010 and then crashed under predator pressure.  Both populations have been reestablished through the release of juvenile birds raised through the captive breeding programme.

Beyond the wild valleys, populations of kākāriki karaka have been established at three predator free  sites: Ōruawairua/Blumine Island in the Marlborough Sounds, where they were translocated in 2011; the Brook Waimārama Sanctuary in Nelson, where they were released in 2021 and Pukenui/Anchor Island in Fiordland, where the most recent population was established in March 2025.