Birds
Kakariki
Cyanoramphus novaezelandiae · also called red-crowned parakeet
Foraging low along the forest floor rather than staying safely up in the canopy, a kakariki risks an encounter with an introduced predator every time it searches the ground for insects, seeds, and the occasional stolen egg.
Overview
The kakariki, Cyanoramphus novaezelandiae, is a vividly green, red-crowned parakeet native to forest habitat across New Zealand, including both the mainland and a number of surrounding offshore islands. Its unusually varied and opportunistic diet, ground-foraging habits that leave it exposed to introduced predators, and much greater security on predator-free islands than on the mainland make it one of the more ecologically vulnerable yet adaptable small parrots found anywhere in New Zealand.
A parrot that forages on the ground
Unlike many parrots that stay safely up in the forest canopy, the kakariki spends considerable time foraging closer to the ground, an opportunistic feeding style that has unfortunately made it an easy target for introduced predators never present before human settlement.
Status
Least Concern overall, though decreasing on the New Zealand mainland due to introduced predators, with populations considerably more secure on predator-free offshore islands.
Kakariki: common questions
What does the kakariki eat besides seeds and fruit?
This species has a notably varied and opportunistic diet for a parrot, occasionally taking insects, invertebrates, and even the eggs of other small birds in addition to its more typical plant-based food of seeds, fruit, buds, and flowers.
Why is the kakariki more vulnerable than tree-dwelling parrots?
This species forages closer to the forest floor than many other parakeets, a habit that leaves it particularly vulnerable to introduced mammalian predators such as rats, stoats, and cats, which have driven significant population declines across much of New Zealand's mainland.
Where are kakariki populations most secure?
This species maintains healthier, more stable populations on a number of predator-free offshore islands around New Zealand, where introduced mammalian predators have been eliminated or never established, in contrast to more precarious mainland populations facing ongoing predation pressure.
How did the kakariki get its alternative name?
This species has a vivid green body marked with a distinctive red patch across the crown, a colouring that gives rise to its common alternative name, distinguishing it from other similarly green New Zealand parrot species.