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Status in the Wild

World Population:
200 on mainland, 50-100 on two offshore islands (recently established).

Range: Restricted areas of South Island, New Zealand; formerly all of South Island and Stewart Island.

Habitat:
Found below 1000m (3280 ft) in upland beech (Nothofagus) forests on the mainland; occurs in mixed podocarp and beech areas on the two offshore islands at lower altitude.

Threat Summary:
Feral rat populations invading from 1990-2000, also introduced stoat, with subsequent nest raiding; predators greatly increase in number during mass seeding events in forests. Also loss of nesting beech trees through harvest and burning. Loss of low-lying brush to deer, cattle and possums.

IUCN Rating:
Critically endangered

Wild Diet:
Eats shoots, buds, berries, flowers, seeds and insects, including caterpillars, aphids and scale insects.

CITES Rating:
Appendix II

Ecology:
Found in the company of Yellow-fronted Parakeets; sometimes interbreeding occurs. Nests in holes in branch or trunk of mature beech tree. Female provides incubation for young. Female feeds young, and she in turn is fed by male. When chicks are older the male may enter the nest cavity to feed the young.

Clutch and Egg Size:
5-11 broadly elliptical eggs, 22.6 x 18.8mm (0.9 x 0.7 in).

Breeding Season:
November-early March.

Links to Other Project(s):
http://www.nzes.org.nz/nzje/free_issues/NZJEcol26_2_139.pdf


More Info Sites:
http://www.terranature.org/threatenedBird_IUCNupdate05.htm

http://search.doc.govt.nz/query.html?rq=0&col=Internet&qt=orange-fronted&charset=iso-8859-1

http://cat.inist.fr/?aModele=afficheN&cpsidt=17788597

http://www.kakariki.net/downloads/parrotmag.pdf

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cyanoramphus_malherbi