 Because the kakapo is long @-@ lived , with an average life expectancy of 95 years and the maximum at about 120 years , it tends to have an adolescence before it starts breeding . Males do not start to boom until about 5 years of age . It was thought that females reached sexual maturity at 9 years of age , but this idea was <unk> in the 2008 breeding season when two 6 @-@ year @-@ old females named <unk> and Rakiura laid eggs . Generally females do not seek out males until they are between 9 and 11 years old . The kakapo does not breed every year and has one of the lowest rates of reproduction among birds . Breeding occurs only in years when trees mast ( fruit heavily ) , providing a plentiful food supply . <unk> mast occurs only every three to five years , so in rimu @-@ dominant forests such as those on Codfish Island , kakapo breeding occurs as infrequently . 
