Since its founding, ZEALANDIA, formerly the Karori Wildlife Sanctuary, has been working tirelessly to reintroduce native species back into the Wellington region. Kakariki, or red-crowned parakeets, were brought to the sanctuary in 2010 and are currently thriving, with approximately one hundred birds within the sanctuary alone. However, kakariki can and do travel far outside the sanctuary, and little is known about where they go when they leave the sanctuary.

We hope to get citizens to record any observations of kakariki they see around Wellington: if you can determine what the kakariki is doing (e.g. if it’s feeding) and if it has any colorful bands on its legs, even better! In addition, kakariki love the fruit of the totara tree, so if you have any large totaras (over 15m) in your backyard, or known of any nearby, please also record that here.

For more information about identifying kakariki, check out http://nzbirdsonline.org.nz/species/red-crowned-parakeet

For information on identifying totara, go to http://www.arbortechnix.co.nz/tree-botanics/s-z/totara

Photo:
"Kakariki". Licensed under CC BY 2.5 via Wikimedia Commons - http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Kakariki.jpg#mediaviewer/File:Kakariki.jpg. less ↑