Meet the Kākā-dashians . . .
 

Reality TV strikes again!
Link to live camera feed inside the nesting box of four baby kākā chicks (NZ endangered native parrot):


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More info on these birds for those interested:


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Awesome :)!

I have been lucky enough to see and hear kākā a few times in the wild - an amazing experience.

They're amazing. Thanks for posting.
I had trouble with the perspective in the video at first. Are we looking down into the nesting box?? I wondered how they'd ever get out. I wonder about the white material in there. The adult bird is pecking away at it right now. You're 3 hrs ahead over there so they should all be sleeping.

Hi Lara
The 'live' feed seems to have stalled temporarily - this was one of the problems the ranger was having to constantly check when I saw it on TV this morning.

If you look down lower on the page to the thumbnail photos you can get a better idea of how the nests are (manmade) constructed to protect the chicks from predators. Given that this is park is located in Wellington city it's pretty amazing they survive at all.

I was just checking it again and the time has gone backwards. :)
They're all flat out now. zzzz

Silly me. I didn't scroll down. I clicked out on a link up in the middle to Zealandia and away I went on a learning curve. Fascinating.

Thanks bluesfan. Did you see that moon tonight? It's spectacular.
I hope you get a good sleep.

I had a good look at the stills.

The material looked white for some reason (probably light issues), but I see in the stills that's it's actually some type of timber like Pine and has grooves cut into it.

I gather they have to climb their way in and out. The Kaka apparently usually leave the nest before they can fly anyway.

I found a video last night of some adults in flight.


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Bluesfan,

Lovely birds with an amazing story behind them. Left it til now to watch the stream, but could only see the little bundles.

Dave.

looks like they are active now... waiting for the next food
delivery...;)

Oh yes, they are all bobbing about now… Cute.

Dave.

I saw the parent making their way down from the ledge earlier. The babies surely have huge mouths. lol

I take a peek each time I come on to the computer. One of the four seems much more advanced than the others. He or she has darker colouring around the back of the neck and is much stronger and was just using their beak to pull themselves up a little on the timber siding. Then the camera stopped.

They've grown up already.

Kākā chicks are due to leave the nest from the 15th onwards.

One was removed last week due to a problem with their beak. Apparently people had been feeding the parent the wrong type of food. It's being cared for elsewhere. Edited to add - (oh, just read it had to be euthanised. How sad :( )

For now there are 3.

One of them is presently planning and practicing their escape route. It's rather hilarious.
Oh, it's stopped now. It was hanging by its beak from the thin timber upright and feet were going 100 k an hour in the air and getting nowhere.

Perfect timing! I just popped on to witness a parent feeding the 3 chicks, then had a great view of all of their heads as they looked up when left alone.

This was followed by one, again, practicing an escape, battering his siblings with his wings as he scrabbled for purchase and gripped tightly with his beak.

Dave.

Dave, they are great aren't they.

My first mission when when I reboot my laptop in the morning is to see how they are getting on :).

It's amazing how quickly they've grown - when you look back on the old still photos they were just little balls of fluff - now they have wing feathers and alert, curious eyes. Hoping they all get to survive out in the big, wide world.

Oh, boohoo.... they took it down for some "maintenance"?
We will miss the fledging time? :confused:

Camera back online.