This bird looks like it might have flown right out of Jurassic Park. It’s the New Zealand Kaka, a large and endangered parrot. Conservationists there estimate there are fewer than 10 thousand of them, thanks entirely to a deadly one-two punch delivered by humans. Although New Zealand has just over four million people living in an area roughly the size of Great Britain, all but a sliver of the native forests these birds call home have been cleared. Combine that with the introduction of predator mammals who have not trouble finding and eating the Kakas’ eggs, and it’s a small miracle that any of the birds are left.
Kakas are about 18 inches long. They may look a bit ungainly, but they are very agile fliers, capable of weaving through trunks and branches, and can cover long distances, including over water. They get all their food from the trees, eating seeds, fruit, nectar, sap, honeydew and tree-dwelling—especially wood-boring—insects.
You’re likely to hear a Kaka before you see one. Like other parrots, they are not quiet birds. And like many other birds, their name seems to derive from their call: a harsh, repeated, rhythmic “ka-aa” when flying above the forest canopy.