The Southland Times reported last week that all the kakapo chicks that were being hand-reared in Invercargill have now returned home to Codfish Island. Hurrah.

Kakapo recovery team leader Deidre Vercoe said the 90-day-old chicks would spend up to six weeks in temporary outdoor pens while they weaned off the hand-rearing food and on to natural vegetation.

Each would then be fitted with a tracking transmitter and slowly introduced into the wild in small groups around the island.