Somewhere on a remote predator-free island in southern New Zealand, inside a hollow at the base of a big rātā tree, a large green parrot is asleep.
The date is 23 Jan 2026.
Around the world many people immediately start to watch.
If that sounds slightly absurd, it is. But that is also exactly what has been happening during the current kākāpō breeding season, where a live nest camera has opened a tiny virtual hatch into the private life of one of the rarest birds on Earth.
I started watching at 6:30pm (a.k.a, 18:30, as we quickly learn to always refer to the 24-hour timestamp in New Zealand time in the top left corner of the live nest cam — a fundamental reference point for all viewers).
The camera is trained on the nesting cavity that belongs to a female kākāpō named Rakiura. She lives on one of the offshore islands where the species is carefully protected. The nest is deep in a tree cavity, the sort of place you would never normally see unless you were a Department of Conservation ranger checking on the bird.
Now anyone with an internet connection can peek inside.
At first glance, not much appears to be happening. Rakiura spends a lot of time asleep.
People call out timestamps (ts!) when something interesting happens.
“11:16 – she’s doing that yoga stretch again.”
“12:09 – I think I saw the egg!”
“14:40 – egg rolling”
Someone notices a feather flicking out when Rakiura lifts her head.
It turns out that when you are watching one of the rarest parrots in the world raise chicks in real time, very small things become very exciting.
And then there are the questions.
The chat fills with them.
What is she doing to the egg?
(She’s keeping the egg correctly oriented and ensuring even temperature and moisture exposure.)
When will the chick hatch?
(From lay to hatch is about 30 days.)
How long ‘til she has another egg?
(For kākāpō, the usual gap between eggs is about 2–4 days, with ~3 days being very typical.)
How many eggs will she have?
(Clutch size is usually 2–3 eggs, occasionally 4, rarely 5. If they’re all fertile… well, that’s a story for another post.)
Hasn’t she been away too long? The egg will get cold and die.
That last one was a biggy at the start – the first egg can be left for an almost unfathomable amount of time before it loses viability 12 – 24 hours.
I know. Inconceivable.
The longest Rakiura left her first egg during the early stage was around seven hours.
This is because before the second egg is laid the first egg enters a kind of pre-incubation pause. Development does not properly begin until the clutch is complete, so the egg can safely be left for extended periods.
Some viewers are just discovering kākāpō for the first time. Others have been following the recovery programme for years. A few have developed the kind of detailed knowledge that only comes from long hours reading research papers, searching social media posts and falling very far down the rabbit hole of conservation biology.
But the remarkable thing is not just the bird in the nest.
It is the growing and diverse community forming around it.
People are watching from places like Nelson, Rakiura/Stewart Island, Christchurch, North Island, Germany, Vienna, Ohio in North America, and Australia. One person might be checking in before breakfast. Another is awake at 1 a.m. halfway across the world. Someone else is quietly screen-capturing moments so they can rewatch them later.
All of them are waiting for the same thing.
The moment the mother bird wakes up, stretches her wings, and disappears out into the night (21:03:57 she is leaving, 21:03 and she’s gone, 21:03 She is going out for a feed, 21:03 Rakiura has left the building…).
Because this is the part that surprises many new viewers.
Kākāpō fathers do not help raise chicks.
There is no shared parenting. No partner returning with food. No relief shift at the nest.
The chicks you see on that camera, and every other nest that is currently monitored where kākāpō currently breed, are all being raised by a single mother.
And when Rakiura slooooowly (with the slowness of someone who thinks they can't be seen) creeps out of the nest and vanishes into the darkness of the forest, she leaves her babies alone.
For hours.
If it’s your first time seeing it, it makes you worry,
Hasn’t she been gone too long?
Will the chicks get cold?
What if something finds them?
Yet these strange strategies are the reasons kākāpō survived for millions of years.
And also the reasons they almost disappeared from the face of our current Earth completely…
To understand that, we have to step away from the nest camera for a moment and look at the extraordinary life of the bird itself…
Postscript: If by some madness you have found my blog but haven’t been tuning in to Kākāpō Cam: Rakiura the kākāpō – 2026 Nest live on YouTube… please do so now!
That will give me time to write the next post!
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