I was walking home this afternoon and spotted a Kaka climbing around in the low branches of trees on the north side of Anderson Park near the Wellington Botanic Gardens, which was very cool. I thought it was a Tui as I approached until it became clear it was too big, and I ended up watching it for about 10 minutes before it flapped away towards Bowen Street.
It’s the first Kaka I’ve seen since one about 6 months ago around Cone in the Tararuas (not counting a visit to Kapiti Island), and only the second that I’ve spotted near Central Wellington. It’s one of the great effects of having the Karori Wildlife Sanctuary just down the road.
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Cool! I’ve never seen a kaka in the city. The ones on Kapiti Island are downright cheeky though!
Yeah it was very unexpected. I saw a couple in the trees up near the Carter Observatory a few years ago, but since then I haven’t seen any outside sanctuaries and (once) the Tararuas.
I was trying to see the bands because the Karori Sanctuary asks people to report what their birds are getting up to, but it was pretty hard to see any colour on the bands at that time of night, esp with me being short-sighted.
I’ve seen a group of 3 of them flying over Kelburn on Wednesday afternoon. Heading in the direction of the botanical garden…
That was a big surprise. Have never seen one before outside of a cage.
Hi Jost. Thanks for the comment. They’re branching out as far as I can tell, though perhaps people from the sanctuary would have a more accurate idea. Hopefully it’s not a temporary thing.
Three weeks after this post I saw another 3 Kakas in the same place at about the same time, all squalking at each other with condensed wolf-whistles, before they flew away towards (perhaps) the Tinakori Hill. The next morning I was walking to work, and saw another one around Garden Road — it was probably on its way towards the Botanic Gardens. I haven’t seen any more since, but I hope it’s a matter of time.