Not all superfoods are indeed super, but one just might help save a critically endangered parrot species that can be found only in New Zealand: the kakapo.

The peculiar birds are mating at a record pace this year, making the most of one of the best bumper crops in decades of the fruit from coniferous rimu trees, according to scientists.

The fruit, which resembles bright red berries, is rich in calcium and vitamin D, providing what researchers described as critical nourishment to chicks.

So far this year, 52 chicks have hatched on several sanctuary islands off the country’s South Island, said Andrew Digby, a scientist and kakapo specialist at New Zealand’s Department of Conservation.

Not all are expected to survive, but Digby said the number was likely to surpass the 73 chicks that hatched in 2019, a record for the reclusive and flightless parrot species that currently counts 236 adults. Three decades ago, he said, there were 51 adults.

“Maybe in the next five, 10 years, we might have got them to the next step away from extinction,” Digby said in an interview Thursday.

Kakapo is a combination of the Maori words for parrot (kaka) and night (po). Most people have never seen one of the nocturnal parrots in person, according to scientists, who brought three to a sanctuary on New Zealand’s North Island and use helicopters to relocate the birds.

The average life span of the parrots is about 60 years, with some living as long as humans, said Digby, who was monitoring the mating frenzy on Anchor Island, a small refuge off New Zealand’s southwestern coastline that is known for lacking the kinds of predators that threaten the parrots. Among them are cats, dogs, stoats and weasels.

Each adult kakapo wears a transmitter that Digby and his colleagues use to the track the birds, which use their chartreuse color as camouflage.

“They wear them like a backpack,” he said. “They’re a little bit like a Fitbit. We can see if they’re nesting. We can even see who has mated and who they’ve mated with and how long they’ve mated for.”

As of Thursday, 245 eggs had been laid this year, 139 of which were fertile, Digby said.