Sirocco, one of the rarest and most famous birds on the planet, makes an appearance.

Last week Sirocco the kakapo left his home on Maud Island where he lives in splendid isloation and has come to visit Zealandia for a month.
His enclosure has been revamped in preparation and the fairy lights to guide people along the path are in place.
He is a remarkable, if slightly confused bird. His antics have made him a You Tube star and he and his 123 relatives (there are only 124 in existence)  have just been voted the most favourite species on the planet.

For a long time it was thought that kakapo (parrot of the night) were doomed for extinction as only males had found to still exist in Fiordland. Then a new population was found on Stewart Island among which were females. They were so threatened by extinction they were all shifted to Codfish Island away from mammalian predators.
It is hard to imagine, but before the arrival of man and his mammals, birds ruled New Zealand. Kakapo roamed  freely at night in great numbers. They are green, nocturnal and flightless so it must have been a wonderful sight as they waddled about like animated soft cuddly toys. The noise during the breeding season would have been also overwhelming. The males build bowls or leks, then boom and ching all night to attract females. What a different sort of world it must have been.

Sirocco, son of Zephyr, contracted a chest infection as a chick. He was removed from the nest and hand reared. As a result he bonded to humans. He loves humans and eschews his fellow kakapo. At sixteen he is reaching adulthood. He will live to a eighty or so as these birds are long livers. Scientists have discovered his sperm is not of great quality and as he prefers humans to kakapo he has been given a new role in life. He is an advocacy bird which means he travels around like a rock star to various venues where people can interact with him and learn about conservation and the importance of protecting the habitat of vulnerable animals such as him.

His popularity status increased due to a television programme 'Last Chance to See.' Brits Stephen Fry and Mark Cawadine came to film Sirocco. As they set up to film him, Sirocco came beetling out of the bush, took one look at Mark who was wearing a fetching green jersey at the time and decided he was the perfect partner for him. He climbed on to the top of his back and began mating vigorously and with joy. Stephen Fry fell about with laughter and made a few ribald comments. The whole episode was filmed and ended up on You Tube for the whole world to see. It remains an extremely popular clip and Sirocco received world wide acclaim.

Sirocco getting amorous 

                                             

At Zealandia the public will be protected by perspex so there will be no incidences of encounters getting too intense. He will have an open air enclosure during the day where he can sleep, and an inside enclosure for when he is on show at night. As it is not the breeding season he is just happy to be around people and will not be looking for conquests. He likes people to talk to him and the more the interaction the more animated and happy he becomes.





Kakapo are still extremely endangered. For the last two seasons the boys have built leks and have boomed and chinged their hearts out. The females have said no. They will only breed if the fruiting of the rimu trees is going to provide enough food for them to raise chicks and for the last two years the fruiting has been poor. They are waiting for a mast season when the fruiting will be more than usual Artificial feeding has not done the trick and they don't want to interfere to much as extra feeding may cause more males to be born when they desperately need more females.

So lets hope this year will be the one and we get a new generation of little mainly female kakapo born to enhance this amazing species.

 

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Shagged by rare parrot