Kaka-pow!: Kakapo Profile

There has been some brilliant news about this critically-endangered bird recently, so I thought it would be well-suited to a little profile, with some bonus good conservation news at the end.

A happy Sirocco on BBC2's Last Chance To See

As I've mentioned in previous posts, I wasn't as interested in birds as in other animal groups, such as amphibians, until I went to New Zealand last year, but my favourite bird has always been the kākāpō, which heartbreakingly I didn't see on my trip (I'll just have to go back!)

The kākāpō, Strigops habroptilus, is the world's only flightless, nocturnal parrot. Because New Zealand didn't have any land mammals apart from two species of bat until humans arrived (sometime in the second half of the 13th century), many of their birds grew big and flightless, because they didn't need to be able to escape land predators. The kākāpō really ran with this, and is now a rather ridiculous bumbling ball of a bird, with a face not unlike an owl, hence its alternative name owl parrot.

Unfortunately for the kākāpō, this put them at a bit of a disadvantage when humans arrived, and populations were decimated; first they were hunted by the Māori, then European colonisers introduced predators such as cats, rats, ferrets and stoats, for whom the robust, ground-dwelling parrot was a very easy target. Fossil records indicate that pre-Polynesian settlement, the kākāpō was the third most common bird; by the early 1970s, people weren't sure if there were any kākāpō still alive. Luckily, scientists discovered 18 kākāpō in Fjordland, on the South Island (all males), before several dozen were found on Stewart Island.

Sirocco looks through the window of the hut at Sealer's Bay on Codfish Island. Photo: Josie Beruldsen, New Zealand Department of Conservation.

Since the establishment of the Kākāpō Recovery Programme in 1995, scientists have established three predator-free islands for the birds and have been working hard to raise the profile of this silly parrot. Some of you might have seen the now infamous Sirocco on Stephen Fry's programme Last Chance to See, who attempted to mate with videographer Mark Carwadine's head, much to Fry and the audience's amusement. This moment is rather ironic given the difficulties scientists have had previously in trying to get these critically endangered birds to mate with each other...

Amazing news has come out over the past couple of days though that this year has been a record breeding season, with 77 baby kākāpō chicks hatching thanks to a bumper crop of rimu fruit, which is important for females both laying eggs and feeding chicks. Although not all 77 will survive, scientists hope around 60 will make it through to adulthood, providing a huge bolster to the 147 individuals currently recorded (and named!). If they make it through to adulthood, kākāpō have very low mortality rates, and according to the New Zealand Department of Conservation could reach up to 90 years old, making them the longest-lived birds in the world!

If you would like to see more of Sirocco, and fellow kākāpō, I highly recommend following him on Facebook, or if you're just after more good photos, this Flickr album from the New Zealand Department of Conservation is rather wonderful.

PS. If I haven't convinced you to love the kākāpō, maybe Douglas Adams will.

#birds #parrots #NewZealand