Life on the island is exciting and SO busy as the hut fills up with willing helpers.  Dr Jacqueline Beggs is one such helper, she's a member of the 'Kakapo Scientific and Technical Advisory Committee' (KSTAC). 

This group meet together twice yearly to provide independent advice to the Kakapo Recovery Programme on it's Research and Technology.  Jacqueline recently donned her field boots and pitched in for a week on Codfish. 

Here is Jacqueline's update and impressions of a breeding season in full swing......

Girls night out.
Mating is still in full swing and deciphering the sex lives of kakapo remains a priority on Whenua Hou.  First we check Barnard's track and bowl system, and the Snark records a visit by Flossie (who mated with Whiskas 6 nights ago).  No sign of mating at Barnard's so we walk on to the track and bowl of nearby Whiskas.  Surprise - he has been visited by Flossie and her daughter Esperance at the same time.  This time there is the unmistakable evidence of mating; trampled ground mixed with down feathers.  Was it Whiskas and Flossie again?  Or was it Whiskas and Esperance?  Next the girls move on and visit Ox, but no sign of mating this time.  Esperance hasn't bred before as she only fledged in 2002.  Maybe some mother-daughter time at the track and bowl is an important way to learn the ritual of lek breeding.  Both females will be watched carefully over the next few days; Flossie may settle down and nest if she has now mated twice, or Esperance may return on her own and mate, or..

Meanwhile, up at Lisa's nest (the first kakapo to nest this year) the chime goes early tonight indicating Lisa has left her egg to find food.  We check that she has moved off into the forest and then hasten down to the nest to check out how the egg has progressed.  Deidre dons gloves and very gently scoops up the egg to weigh, measure and then "candle".  A torch (with a spongy modification to prevent damaging the egg) is held to the egg and lights up the contents.  A network of red blood vessels is clearly visible along with the dark mass of the developing embryo.  Deidre pronounces the development is going well; on target for a 21 day old egg.  Amazing to think this little mass can develop into a large green parrot.  We quietly withdraw from the nest before Lisa returns.  We watch on the video monitor as she unsuspectingly returns to her egg, rolls it with her beak gently, flicks around a little nest material and then settles back to incubate.

There are now four nests being monitored on Whenua Hou, and another 10 females have been recorded mating.  Organised mayhem hits the hut as a group of volunteers is needed to mind the nests each night, others head for the hills radio-tracking the females to check if any have stopped moving around (a good sign that a nest is underway), the track and bowl systems are checked daily and another squad cruise the island cleaning out the food hoppers and placing out fresh food.  I think of them as the e3 team - energy, enthusiasm and experience.  There is an air of excitement as the tally of potential breeding birds continues to increase and the date of hatch of the first chick approaches.  But it's also sheer hard work; the tracks can be steep, the odd knee-deep mud trap awaits the incautiously placed boot and a long-day's work can be followed by a broken nights sleep if there is work required up at a nest.  This is not a standard 9 to 5 job, and certainly not a 5 day a week job.  But job satisfaction is high; helping kakapo to regain a functioning population is enough motivation to keep these keen young folk going and Whenua Hou is a gorgeous island.  Where else can you hear the boom of kakapo and squeak of bat by night, and the scurry of skinks startled from basking in the sun and the chatter of kakariki by day.