On Saturday night, I got up close and personal with an ambassador of New Zealand! Sirocco Kakapo is has been granted the title of Official Spokesbird for Conservation by Prime Minister John Key, and he does his job very well.
As regular readers of this blog will already know, I am SUPER INTO KAKAPOS. To reiterate what I have in earlier blogs iterated: they are a fascinating species. They are of one of the most ancient genuses found anywhere in the world, and may be the oldest still-living avian breed in the world. They're the world largest parrot, the only flightless parrot, and the only nocturnal parrot. They look ridiculous . They smell weird. They skraak, ching, and boom. Basically, they are great for reasons historic, scientific, and adorable, and they are very close to extinction. There are only 125 left and they only breed every few years. Sirocco, the world's most famous kakapo, was a bit of a dud- he had a respiratory infection as a chick and so he was hand raised by humans. Because of this he doesn't actually realize he's a bird, and he doesn't breed. That's not too useful when there are so few individuals in a species. However, he really, really likes interacting with humans-- and in 2009, he became famous by trying to mate with Mark Carwardine's head on the show Last Chance to See. His fame took off and now, when he is not hanging out on his protected island, he travels throughout New Zealand raising money and awareness for the Kakapo species.
He doesn't travel often, so I was thrilled beyond belief a few months ago when I found out that he'd be in Wellington while I was here. He's at Zealandia for a month, meeting his adoring public and putting on a show. Zealandia itself was really excellent too, and I'll definitely be back to see more rare and endangered birds! But Saturday night was all about Sirocco.