Also known as the kākāriki karaka, it is one of New Zealand’s rarest and most distinctive parrots. This small, bright-green parakeet is easily identified by its lemon-yellow crown, orange frontal band, and orange rump patches, giving it a warmer, more colorful appearance than its close relatives. It moves quickly and quietly through the forest canopy, often going unnoticed despite its vivid plumage.

This species is found only on the South Island, where it once occupied a wide range of forest habitats. Today, it survives mostly in a handful of remote beech-forest valleys and on a few predator-free islands where it has been introduced for protection. Malherbe’s parakeets rely heavily on mountain beech forests, feeding on beech seeds, small invertebrates, buds, and flowers. They are highly responsive to beech “mast years,” when trees produce massive seed crops; these years provide abundant food but also trigger population explosions in introduced predators like rats and stoats.

Unfortunately, the Malherbe’s parakeet is listed as Critically Endangered, with fewer than a few hundred birds remaining in the wild. The species’ rapid decline is closely tied to predation by introduced mammals — rats, stoats, possums, and feral cats all prey on eggs, chicks, or adults. Habitat modification from browsing animals such as deer and possums also degrades forests and reduces food availability. Because this parakeet evolved in an ecosystem without mammalian predators, it is exceptionally vulnerable even to low levels of predation and disturbance.

Conservation efforts for the Malherbe’s parakeet are among the most intensive in New Zealand. Predator control in key valleys is constant and carefully monitored, using traps, bait stations, and nest protection methods such as metal collars around nesting trees. Birds have been translocated to offshore islands and fenced mainland sanctuaries, where closed ecosystems give them a better chance at stable breeding.

Distribution

Country

Population est.

Status

Year

Comments

New Zealand

130-270

CR

2018