Guardian Nature School Team Contact Blog Project Noah Facebook Project Noah Twitter

A worldwide community photographing and learning about wildlife

Join Project Noah!
nature school apple icon

Project Noah Nature School visit nature school

Kaka

Nestor meridionalis

Description:

The New Zealand Kaka is a medium sized parrot, around 45 cm (18 in) in length and weighing about 550 g, and is closely related to the Kea, but has darker plumage and is more arboreal. The forehead and crown are greyish-white and the nape is greyish-brown. The neck and abdomen are more reddish, while the wings are more brownish. Both sub-species have a strongly patterned brown/green/grey plumage with orange and scarlet flashes under the wings; color variants which show red to yellow coloration especially on the breast are sometimes found.

Habitat:

The New Zealand Kaka lives in lowland and mid-altitude native forest. Its strongholds are currently the offshore reserves of Kapiti Island, Codfish Island and Little Barrier Island. It is breeding rapidly in the mainland island sanctuary at Zealandia (Karori Wildlife Sanctuary), with over 100 chicks hatched since their reintroduction in 2002.[3]

Species ID Suggestions



Sign in to suggest organism ID

No Comments

Quiskal
Spotted by
Quiskal

Porirua, Wellington, New Zealand

Spotted on Jan 28, 2011
Submitted on Jun 7, 2011

Related Spottings

Kea Kea Kea Kea

Nearby Spottings

Takahe Kākā Weka Monarch Butterfly

Reference

Noah Guardians
Noah Sponsors
join Project Noah Team

Join the Project Noah Team