The KakapoStrigops habroptila was described in Buller’s A History of Birds of New Zealand as, ”One of the most wonderful, perhaps, of all living birds.” It is the largest of all parrots. It is a flightless, nocturnal parrot that was knocked out of trees by the Maori, by shaking the trees. What an easy way to get a great meal. This vulnerability accounts for why it is now one of the rarest of endemic New Zealand birds. Kakapo means night parrot. During the day it hides in heavy bush and blends in with the foliage, making it difficult to spot. This one was photographed at Zoolandia. We all missed it as we first passed by its bird-house. On the way back a naturalist familiar with it pointed out its perch in a nearby tree (photos 8056, 8062). When Charles Cummings, a fellow group member, passed by later it had awokend and he got photos of its face (Kakapo 1 & 2). Given its great rarity, these photos in the ‘wild’ are a great prize.
[Many books and documentaries detailing the plight of the Kakapo have been produced in recent years, one of the earliest being Two in the Bush, made by Gerald Durrell for the BBC in 1962. A feature length documentary, The Unnatural History of the Kakapo won two major awards at the Reel Earth Environmental Film Festival. Two of the most significant documentaries, both made by NHNZ, are Kakapo - Night Parrot (1982) and To Save the Kakapo (1997). The BBC's Natural History Unit also featured the Kakapo, including a sequence with Sir David Attenborough in The Life of Birds. It was also one of the endangered animals that Douglas Adams and Mark Carwardine set out to find for the radio series and book Last Chance to See. An updated version of the series has been produced for BBC TV, in which Stephen Fry and Carwardine revisit the animals to see how they are getting on almost 20 years later, and in January 2009, they spent time filming the Kakapo on Codfish Island.Footage of a kakapo named Sirocco attempting to mate with Cawardine's head was viewed by millions worldwide, leading to Sirocco becoming "spokesbird" for New Zealand wildlife conservation in 2010, as part of the International Year of Biodiversity. The kakapo was featured in the documentary series South Pacific (renamed Wild Pacific) episode Strange Evolutions, originally aired on June 13, 2009.]*Wikipedia