Wichita's Sedgwick County Zoo is now home to three rare kea parrot chicks, a milestone for a species with fewer than 35 birds in accredited zoos worldwide.

The three males, named Koru, Waitai and Toki, hatched at the zoo this spring and represent the majority of surviving kea chicks born in 2026 at facilities accredited by the Association of Zoos and Aquariums (AZA), KSN reported Sept. 2. Only about 35 captive kea live in AZA-accredited zoos in total.

Kea are a parrot species found only in the wild in New Zealand. Between 1,000 and 5,000 remain in the wild, according to the New Zealand Department of Conservation.

The zoo called the hatching especially significant because all three chicks were parent-reared, meaning their kea parents raised them rather than zoo staff. The zoo's bird team had spent years working toward successful parent-rearing, the zoo said in a social media post Sept. 2.

When warm temperatures became dangerous for the down-covered birds, the entire kea family was temporarily moved to the zoo's Veterinary Hospital so the parents could continue raising them in air conditioning. The bird team provided special diets three times a day for the parents to feed the chicks and weighed each bird twice a week to track growth.

All three have now fledged, meaning they have grown the feathers needed to fly. They are living in their public habitat at the zoo, where visitors can spot them.

Each chick wears a colored leg band: Waitai has a silver band, Toki has an orange band and Koru has a green band. Juvenile kea also have a distinctive yellow coloration around their beaks that adults lack.

Their personalities are already emerging, the zoo said. Koru and Toki tend to be more reserved and can often be found exploring and climbing together.

Waitai loves water.

The zoo's bird team had declared 2026 the "Year of the Kea" at the start of the year. All three chicks are now visible in the zoo's public kea habitat, identifiable by their colored bands and the yellow beaks that mark them as juveniles.