A young kākā chick - the runt in a clutch of five - has delighted conservationists at the ZEALANDIA ecosanctuary simply by surviving.
The little bird, named Aroha, came from an unusually late egg.
"Kākā usually lay an egg every second day until they get three, and then start incubating," says Judi Lapsley Miller.
"They then lay up to two more as insurance policies, continuing on the every-second-day cycle. So it's usual to have a laggard in the nest, but it's usually only up to four days younger than the others and soon catches up."
It took staff by surprise when the fifth egg hatched and the small chick was spotted in early December 2011.
"The fourth (which we'd usually refer to as the runt) soon caught up to the rest, but the fifth (Aroha) struggled. We all assumed the worst - that it was too much younger and wouldn't be able to compete for food and would die," says Ms Lapsley Miller.
However, Aroha's sibling became very protective. Together with the help of voluntary human nest monitors, the runt began to gain weight and feathers.
Aroha is still too small to be deemed male or female.
While it is much smaller than the other chicks, it is now described a "feisty and interested in the world".
Aroha's next test will come when the chicks fledge from the nestboxes and out from under the wings of their mother.
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