Kakapo

Breeding success for rare kakapo

Down on a lonely island off the southern tip of New Zealand, three new kakapo have just been born.  These new chicks bring the total number of one of the world's rarest birds to 86.  The critically endangered kakapo - fat, green, musty-smelling nocturnal parrots, which cannot fly but which can climb trees - are confined to New Zealand's offshore islands.  Once, they roamed mainland New Zealand from sea level to the mountains.  Decimated by introduced predators, the kakapo population dwindled to just 51 in the mid-1990s, but an intensive conservation effort has boosted kakapo numbers in the past few years.

Story includes a picture, these are incredibly rare birds.