Chatham Parakeet Fieldwork
New Zealand Parrot Trust (WPT affiliate), Department of Conservation-Chatham Islands
Mangere Island is part of the Chatham Islands archipelago, located about 800 kilometres east of New Zealand’s South Island. The tiny parcel is home to the endemic Forbes’ or Chatham Parakeet, listed as Vulnerable by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN). Like many other island species, these parakeets were lost to introduced species, especially feral cats, brought by humans. Loss of habitat also proved detrimental to the population. Thankfully, vegetation that was destroyed was replanted and regenerated fairly rapidly, helping to boost the population.
In 2022, the New Zealand Parrot Trust and World Parrot Trust provided financial support to researchers from the Department of Conservation-Chatham Islands to conduct critical population monitoring and to explore other sites for future translocations of Forbes’ Parakeets.
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Status: IUCN Vulnerable / CITES Appendix I
Population: 250-1000 mature individuals, stable.
Threats: The species disappeared from Mangere Island at the beginning of the 20th century due to deforestation, introduced grazing mammals and predation by feral cats. The threat of predation remains, and hybridisation with Cyanoramphus novaezelandiae chathamensis is a concern.
Range: Restricted to Little Mangere and Mangere Islands in the Chatham Islands group, New Zealand.
Natural history:Â The species is confined to remnant tracts of native vegetation, with a preference for mixed, unbroken Nothofagus-Podocarpus forest. Its diet consists of leaves, buds, flowers, seeds and invertebrates such as caterpillars and scale insects. It is seen in mixed flocks with Red-fronted Parakeets (Cyanoramphus novaezelandiae), usually found in the mid-to-upper canopy. Will warily forage on the ground on predator-free islands. Birds nest in natural crevices in dead or living trees, or burrows in the ground.
