• Summary
• Text account
• Data table and detailed info
• Distribution map
• Reference and further resources

Taxonomic source(s)
del Hoyo, J., Collar, N.J., Christie, D.A., Elliott, A. and Fishpool, L.D.C. 2014. HBW and BirdLife International Illustrated Checklist of the Birds of the World. Volume 1: Non-passerines. Lynx Edicions BirdLife International, Barcelona, Spain and Cambridge, UK.
Turbott, E.G. 1990. Checklist of the Birds of New Zealand. Ornithological Society of New Zealand, Wellington.

Red List criteria met

Critically Endangered	Endangered	Vulnerable
-	-	A2ce

Red List history

Year	Category	Criteria
2022	Vulnerable	A2ce
2016	Endangered	A2ce+3be+4be
2013	Endangered	A2be+3be+4be
2012	Endangered	A2be+3be+4be
2008	Endangered	A2b,e; A3b,e; A4b,e
2005	Endangered
2004	Vulnerable
2000	Vulnerable
1996	Vulnerable
1994	Vulnerable
1988	Near Threatened

Migratory status	not a migrant	Forest dependency	high
Land-mass type		Average mass	-

	Estimate	Data quality
Extent of Occurrence (breeding/resident)	455,000 km2	medium
Severely fragmented?	no	-

	Estimate	Data quality	Derivation	Year of estimate
Population size	2500-9999 mature individuals	medium	suspected	2016
Population trend	decreasing	good	inferred	-
Rate of change over the past 10 years/3 generations (longer of the two periods)	30-40%	-	-	-
Generation length	9.7 years	-	-	-
Number of subpopulations	2-100	-	-	-
Percentage of mature individuals in largest subpopulation	1-89%	-	-	-

Population justification: The population is suspected to be in the band 2,500-9,999 mature individuals in total, equating to 3,750-14,999 individuals. However, this estimate should be treated cautiously, as good data are only available from one population in the central North Island (T. Greene in litt. 2016). Less than 50% of the population is now found on the mainland (R. Moorhouse per R. Hitchmough in litt. 2005), with numbers high only in a few intensely managed sites and islands that remain free of possums and stoats.

Trend justification: N. m. meridionalis is listed as Nationally Vulnerable under the New Zealand Threat Classification System, thought to be declining at a rate of 10-50% within three generations, while subspecies septentrionalis is listed as Recovering due to ongoing pest control (Robertson et al. 2021). While there have been increases of both subspecies at some mainland sites, these are limited to the few sites where predator control has been successful. The species is overall thought to be declining across much of the range where predator control is absent and populations are highly skewed towards males (T. Greene in litt. 2022). Although the ongoing rate of decline is uncertain, the past rate of decline is suspected to exceed 30% (T. Greene in litt. 2022), placed here in the range 30-40%.

Country/Territory	Presence	Origin	Resident	Breeding visitor	Non-breeding visitor	Passage migrant
New Zealand	extant	native	yes

Country/Territory	IBA Name
New Zealand	Bay of Plenty Islands
New Zealand	Chalky Preservation Inlets
New Zealand	Dusky Sound Wet Jacket Arm
New Zealand	Hirakimata Kotuku Peninsula
New Zealand	Marotere Chickens Islands
New Zealand	Mercury Islands
New Zealand	Mokohinau Islands
New Zealand	North Coast Rakiura
New Zealand	Paterson Inlet The Neck
New Zealand	Port Pegasus
New Zealand	Southern Titi Muttonbird Islands
New Zealand	Taranga Hen Island
New Zealand	Te Hauturu-o-Toi Little Barrier Island
New Zealand	Whenua Hou Codfish Island

Habitat (level 1)	Habitat (level 2)	Importance	Occurrence
Forest	Subtropical/Tropical Moist Lowland	suitable	resident
Forest	Temperate	major	resident
Altitude	0 - 1000 m	Occasional altitudinal limits

Threat (level 1)	Threat (level 2)	Impact and Stresses
Biological resource use	Hunting & trapping terrestrial animals - Intentional use (species is the target)	Timing		Scope		Severity		Impact
		Past, Unlikely to Return		Majority (50-90%)		No decline		Past Impact
		Stresses Species mortality
Biological resource use	Logging & wood harvesting - Unintentional effects: (subsistence/small scale) [harvest]	Timing		Scope		Severity		Impact
		Ongoing		Minority (<50%)		Slow, Significant Declines		Low Impact: 5
		Stresses Ecosystem degradation
Invasive and other problematic species, genes & diseases	Invasive non-native/alien species/diseases - Mustela erminea	Timing		Scope		Severity		Impact
		Ongoing		Majority (50-90%)		Slow, Significant Declines		Medium Impact: 6
		Stresses Skewed sex ratios, Species mortality
Invasive and other problematic species, genes & diseases	Invasive non-native/alien species/diseases - Rattus norvegicus	Timing		Scope		Severity		Impact
		Ongoing		Majority (50-90%)		Slow, Significant Declines		Medium Impact: 6
		Stresses Competition, Reduced reproductive success
Invasive and other problematic species, genes & diseases	Invasive non-native/alien species/diseases - Trichosurus vulpecula	Timing		Scope		Severity		Impact
		Ongoing		Majority (50-90%)		Slow, Significant Declines		Medium Impact: 6
		Stresses Competition, Species mortality
Invasive and other problematic species, genes & diseases	Invasive non-native/alien species/diseases - Vespula germanica	Timing		Scope		Severity		Impact
		Ongoing		Majority (50-90%)		Slow, Significant Declines		Medium Impact: 6
		Stresses Competition
Invasive and other problematic species, genes & diseases	Invasive non-native/alien species/diseases - Vespula vulgaris	Timing		Scope		Severity		Impact
		Ongoing		Majority (50-90%)		Slow, Significant Declines		Medium Impact: 6
		Stresses Competition

Purpose	Scale
Food - human	subsistence

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Recommended citation
BirdLife International (2024) Species factsheet: New Zealand Kaka Nestor meridionalis. Downloaded from https://datazone.birdlife.org/species/factsheet/new-zealand-kaka-nestor-meridionalis on 26/12/2024.
Recommended citation for factsheets for more than one species: BirdLife International (2024) IUCN Red List for birds. Downloaded from https://datazone.birdlife.org/species/search on 26/12/2024.