Where were we?
Because, I don't know about you, but I was distracted.. by this
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| When the sun is just right we get flooded with magical colour in stead of the multitudes of grey! |
and this!
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Our first Live Cam baby Vora-A1-2026 with his second foster mum Arareta and Atareta-A2-2026 on Pukenui Island March 2026 |
Ahh yes, we were answering questions about why Rakiura is a solo parent! Where is the father!?!
The answer is simple. He's not here.
He has different priorities.
He's preparing to entertain!
He has to build, tend to (and sometime defend!) his Bachelor Pad aka (often) Room with a View (see bare patch in image below in front with the specular backdrops of Whenua Hou).
The Bachelor Pad
Although, actually, like all things kākāpō related - it's not simple.
Kākāpō are the only parrots to use a lek breeding system.
Each male selects a display site - often on a ridge or elevated ground - and begins to prepare it.
He meticulously clears vegetation.
He meticulously maintains pathways.
And most importantly, he digs a series of shallow depressions in the ground.
These are called bowls.
Several bowls are usually connected by little tracks, forming what can only really be described as a carefully maintained outdoor performance space.
A bachelor pad, if you like.
The Sound that Travels Through the Forest
Once the stage is set, and night falls, the performance begins.
The male kākāpō puffs himself up like a feathery pufferfish and produces a deep, low-frequency call known as booming.
It is not a quick call.
It is not a cheerful chirp.
It is a slow, resonant, almost subsonic pulse that rolls out through the forest and can travel for kilometres in the still night air.
Boom.
…pause…
Boom.
…pause…
Boom.
And then again.
And again.
And again.
For hours.
Night after night.
It’s a sound you don’t just hear - you feel it, deep in your chest, carried through the forest floor and up through the trees.
Waiting for an Audience
Females like Rakiura will travel to these lek sites when they are ready to mate. The earliest time is around Christmas.
They listen.
They choose.
They visit one or more males.
And then they leave.
There is no partnership.
No shared nest.
No co-parenting arrangement.
Just a brief meeting in the night… and then two very different jobs begin.
Two Very Different Stories
From that moment on, the lives of male and female kākāpō move in completely different directions.
Rakiura returns to the forest.
She finds a place to nest (rarely the exact one she has used before). She may get a visit by Rangers who leave her with some carefully planned "donations"...
She lays eggs.
She incubates them.
She raises the chicks alone.
Meanwhile, somewhere out on a ridge, the males will still be there, still calling into the night, still maintaining their bowls, still hoping to be chosen again.
The nest camera shows us one half of the story.
The ridge tops hold the other.
So… Where Is the Baby Daddy?
He’s not missing.
He’s not late.
He’s not coming back.
He never was.
He’s out there somewhere, on his carefully prepared stage, booming into the darkness.
And Rakiura?
She has dinner to find...
Post Script: Next Time
These performances don’t happen every year.
Some seasons the forest is completely quiet.
So what decides when the males boom… and when they don’t?
Next time, we’ll follow the trees - and the food - to attempt to fathom the unfathomable... what really triggers a kākāpō breeding season.
Pictures credit to DOC and Jake Osborne.
Black and white is Taeatanga booming age 11 in 2025 at Maungatautari Fenced Sanctuary (North Island).
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