There's a parrot on the sugar bowl.

Large and sleek with a perfectly hooked beak, his ruffled olive brown feathers are edged with a brilliant pohutukawa red.

He perches beside the tea and coffee, his gnarled brown claws gripping the bowl's ceramic edge.

"That's a North Island kaka and he's flat out of luck," says John.

"I've put the lid on. He won't get in to it."

Twitching his head from side to side in confusion - or perhaps understanding - the kaka swoops off, out the open door, to his bushy forest haven.

These close encounters of the bird kind are the norm here on Kapiti Island. Located just five kilometres off shore from Paraparaumu in the lower North Island, Kapiti Island is one of five island nature reserves in New Zealand.

Famed for its astonishing native bird population, Kapiti welcomes around 26,000 visitors per year. Most opt for a day trip to the DOC regulated southern end of the 2000ha island. The leisurely and the lucky - like me - head north and spend a night at the Kapiti Island Alive Nature Lodge in Waiorua Bay.

Kapiti Island Alive is operated by the Barrett family, which has owned the land at this end of the island for centuries. Around the Nature Lodge is a smattering of small, unobtrusive baches, owned by various members of the Barrett family.

John Barrett, his wife Susan, sister Amo and niece Minnie along with their 10 staff members are the lynchpins in the meticulous tourism operation that brings guests to the island, houses and feeds them and escorts them on bird spotting walks, including a night-time kiwi spotting tour.

And they keep the lid on the sugar bowl.

Following the sweet-toothed kaka outside I almost trip on a weka, stalking sneakily along the lawn. We're both startled: he flutters away in a flapping lope; I turn and come face to face with a fat kereru, eyeing me suspiciously from a low branch.

Kereru (New Zealand's native wood pigeon), weka and kaka are some of the more common native birds found on Kapiti Island. In fact, weka are thought to have been here since the 1890s when they were gifted to John's great, great, great grandfather who farmed this land.

Unlike the weka, which has survived centuries on the island, most bird species were rapidly diminished with the arrival of mammalian predators.

"Originally, birds dominated the landscape," explains John. "But then the Maori arrived and brought rats and dogs. Then the whalers came with more rats and stoats. Then the European settlers brought the ship rats, which were the worst. "Our bird population didn't know how to defend itself against these new pests. Since the settlers arrived, we have lost over 50 endemic bird species," says John, sadly.

"But, things are changing."

In the 1890s, the Forest and Bird Society of New Zealand convinced the government to pay attention to the country's dire conservation status. By 1895, nature reserves had been earmarked and in 1897, Kapiti Island was established.

At this time, Kapiti Island was largely barren. Most of the native bush had been felled for farming. Over the next 100 years pest eradication was carried out, and by 1996 all pests had been removed from the island including sheep, goats, stoats, mice, rats and 22,000 possums. Forest regeneration efforts followed and, 12 years on, the land has been transformed into a lush native forest.

"When I was a kid here, huge areas were flat - no trees," says John. "In fact, my family had a 9-hole golf course just over here," he indicates an area of dense scrubby bush, a few metres high.

Despite the mammoth changes John says, "Really, this is just the very beginning of the new stage of Kapiti. In 100 years time it will be very much like old New Zealand."

To me, Kapiti Island is already like old New Zealand. It's a place where power and water don't come easy. Where the lodge kitchen smells like smoke from the old wood range ("things don't happen round here until the wood's burning," says John) and the living area is filled with the sweet scent of harakeke being softened by Susan, for weaving.

It's a place where the forest is an ever-changing concerto of birdsong - much of which I've never heard before; where the manuka trees fill the breeze with honey and their flowers swirl to the ground like tiny snowflakes.

From down here on the Okupe Loop Walk track, the forest is a mass of bare, brown tree limbs, twisting and gnarling like an old man's hands. The sunlight falling through them creates a mottled marbled pattern on the soft forest floor, showcasing shadows of flitting birds. Above, the wind tumbles through the bushy tops, rolling - visibly - from tree to fluttering tree.

Unfortunately, the wind means we don't find any little spotted kiwi on our night tour. John says it's the worst kiwi-spotting night in weeks. The loud, rustling wind makes it impossible to hear snorting, snuffling kiwi in the grass, but we do spot a crashing, bashing little blue penguin.

Regardless, the shrill, vibrating call of the world's rarest kiwi can be heard clearly, coming from hundreds of metres away, and I fall asleep to the beautiful sound.

In the morning, I walk out of my cabin and freeze. There, in the tree, are two raucous saddlebacks. They're so close I can see their flaming red wattles. A bellbird zooms past and the saddlebacks follow. Next comes a tui, soaring and floating and passing a sleek kakariki riding invisible waves of air. A sudden scuffling alerts me to a magnificent, bulbous takahe, scratching around on the lawn behind me. One of only 19 on the island and 280 in New Zealand, this beautiful, vibrant blue, white-bottomed bird is contentedly searching for food just metres from where I stand.

I can only imagine what Kapiti Island will be like in 100 years time when it's reformed to 'old New Zealand'. To think there will be even more birds here is simply astounding. And to know that I will never see it in its full glory is saddening.

But I'm happy here, now, with takahe at my feet and a parrot on the sugar bowl.

Amelia visited Kapiti Island courtesy of Positively Wellington Tourism and Kapiti Island Alive.

Amelia is Content Editor of the New Zealand travel and tourism website www.fourcorners.co.nz.