Getting up close & personal with the kakapo
including The kakapo is a parrot unlike any other.
What makes the kakapo so unique?
The kakapo is a unique bird
One of the most notable features of the kakapo, is its distinctive, musty odour. And then there's the way it looks and behaves...
It's a parrot that looks like an owl, or a giant budgie
• It cannot fly, although it has large wings
• It walks and jumps and is an excellent climber
• It is nocturnal and can be found feeding on the ground or 20m up a rimu treeIt's possibly the oldest living bird and
• It “skraarks” loudly like other parrots but you might mistake other calls for a braying donkey, a grunting or squealing pig, a booming bittern; and it also produces a nasal metallic noise called “chinging”.
Once out in the open, the kakapo will reveal its large size, and the startling mottled moss-green body feathers that provide perfect camouflage in New Zealand's native forest. The softness of the feathers are represented in the second part of the scientific name – Strigops habroptila.
A closer encounter will reveal that thick, musty kakapo smell. Strong and distinctive , the odour alerts dogs, cats and other predators to the presence of the bird and was a primary cause of the kakapo's rapid decline.
People are captivated by the un-birdlike behaviour of this critically endangered parrot. Its waddling gait, curiosity, wide range of calls, and comic antics meant that the kakapo was even occasionally kept as a pet by early settlers.
"The kakapo is a bird out of time. If you look one in its large, round, greeny-brown face, it has a look of serenely innocent incomprehension that makes you want to hug it and tell it that everything will be all right, though you know that it probably will not be." - Douglas Adams, British author, 1990.