The kākāpō has become the first two-time winner of Aotearoa New Zealand’s Bird of the Year award.
The flightless parrot triumphed despite the Antipodean Albatross receiving more top votes in Forest & Bird’s annual competition.
“Our kākāpō is the heaviest, the longest-living, the only flightless, and the only nocturnal parrot on the planet,” Laura Keown, spokesperson for Bird of the Year, said.
“This is the first time any bird has won the Bird of the Year title more than once, so New Zealand’s mighty moss chicken can add yet another feather to its cap.”
The kākāpō took its first Bird of the Year title back in 2008.
“The things that make kākāpō unique also make them vulnerable to threats. They are slow breeders, they nest on the ground, and their main defence is to imitate a shrub. Those qualities worked great in the land of birds the kākāpō evolved in, but they don’t fool introduced predators like stoats, rats and cats.”
Kākāpō used to live throughout Aotearoa, but today they only survive on predator free islands.
“These birds were literally brought back from the brink of extinction. There were only about 50 birds in the 1990s and they’ve been saved by intensive conservation efforts. Today there are 213 individuals,” Keown said.
“In New Zealand, eighty per cent of our native birds are in trouble or facing extinction, including the kākāpō.”
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