Kakapo snatches international photo award
01 Feb 2011
A striking photographic portrait of a New Zealand kakapo parrot - one of the rarest and most at-risk bird species on earth - has swooped up first prize in an international competition.
Taken by a New Zealand Department of Conservation (DOC) ranger, the photo captured 12-year-old Sinbad in a natural bush setting, preened and inquisitive with his beady parrot eyes firmly fixed on the photographer’s lens.
With only 120 kakapo survivors in existence, breeding is important and Sinbad is a youngster with an illustrious background - the offspring of Richard Henry who, at 80 years old, was New Zealand’s longest-living kakapo until he died last month.
World’s rarest birds
The World’s Rarest Birds competition is designed to photograph the most endangered birds while raising conservation efforts.
The breathtaking photo of Sinbad the kakapo - one of only 120 survivors of the world’s largest and only flightless parrot species - was taken by Department of Conservation Biodiversity ranger Shane McInnes.
"It’s pretty cool to win this - I was definitely surprised. I guess I’m a keen amateur photographer," said McInnes.
McInnes snapped the winning shot while working on Codfish Island - a small island at the bottom of the South Island - where most of the remaining kakapo population lives.
The amateur photographer was on a night time walk along a track on Codfish Island when he discovered the curious kakapo.
"I grabbed the camera because they don’t hang around for long, but he struck a pose for me," said McInnes.
Photo competition
The World's Rarest Bird competition is organised by BirdLife International, a global conservation federation working to protect birds and their habitats.
Launched in 2010, the competition is open to amateur and professional photographers worldwide, and aims to secure images of the world’s 566 most threatened bird species.
This year nearly 90% of species classed as endangered, critically endangered or extinct in the wild were photographed.
Thousands of images were entered into the competition, and hundreds will feature in a book released later this year with the proceeds going towards bird conservation efforts.
Sinbad the kakapo
Sinbad the kakapo had a difficult start in life, but is now a healthy, attractive and inquisitive bird that DOC staff believe will breed successfully.
He was one of three chicks hatched to father Richard Henry and mother Flossie in 1998, but as the youngest and smallest chick in the nest he couldn’t get enough food, so staff had to hand-raise him.
When Sinbad had gained enough weight, he was airlifted 700km south to Te Anau - a small town near Queenstown - to be raised at a DOC rearing unit. En route Sinbad developed respiratory problems, but was saved by the air crew who used Kiwi ingenuity to fit the little parrot with an oxygen mask.
By three months Sinbad had recovered and spent a further five months being hand-raised on Maud Island - off the northern tip of the South Island.
Now based on Codfish Island in southern New Zealand, Sinbad is described as a lovely and gentle bird who is very handsome with an immaculate plumage, large eyes, and an equally large appetite.
Sinbad first mated in 2009 but unfortunately didn't produce any chicks.
Sinbad is named after Sinbad Gully, in Fiordland where some of the last kakapo lived in the wild and close to where his father, Richard Henry, was found in 1975.
New Zealand kakapo
The kakapo - night parrot or owl parrot - is a species of large flightless nocturnal parrot native to New Zealand.
Its features include a finely blotched yellow-green plumage, a large grey beak, short legs, large feet and short wings and tail.
The kakapo is the world’s heaviest and only flightless parrot. To add to its uniqueness, it is nocturnal, herbivorous, has no male parental care, and a subsonic mating boom that can travel several kilometers.
The kakapo is critically endangered with only 120 known birds, most of which have been personally named.
Sirocco - the most famous kakapo - earned international fame when he tried to mate with a high-profile BBC presenter during filming of the series Last Chance to See. Appointed by the NZ government as the world’s first ‘spokes bird’ for conservation, Sirocco regularly updates his personal blog and tweets from his Twitter account.
Sinbad’s father Richard Henry, who died in January, was considered the elder statesman of the country’s rare native species and one who played a vital role in kakapo recovery.
DOC’s kakapo recovery work
With only 120 birds left, the NZ Department of Conservation’s kakapo recovery project aims to establish a population of 150 females living at three separate sites - one of which is self-sustaining.
Signed over 20 years ago, the recovery agreement is DOC’s longest running conservation partnership and has already injected more than NZ$3.5 million towards breeding programmes and predator-proof sanctuaries for kakapo.
DOC’s kakapo recovery work is supported by a partnership involving Rio Tinto Alcan New Zealand Limited, New Zealand Aluminum Smelters Limited and the NZ Forest & Bird.
Since signing of the partnership in 1990, New Zealand’s kakapo population has more than doubled from 49 to 120 - a huge milestone that celebrates both the survival of the species and the dedicated efforts of the people involved.
More information
NZ parrot playboy now world famous
New Zealand's conservation spokesbird - Sirocco
NZ kakapo found dead
Iconic New Zealand birds
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