New Zealand’s Department of Conservation reports that orange-fronted parakeets, the country’s rarest parakeet, have produced close to 300 birds at Brook Waimārama Sanctuary. One breeding pair, Nacho and Trixie, produced 55 chicks since coming together in 2024, including 33 in the current season.
Only a few hundred of the birds remain in the wild, so each successful breeding season matters. The progress also depends on a network of captive-breeding partners, researchers, conservation groups, and sanctuary staff working across the species’ fragile recovery effort.