Duncan Wright, who lives in Wellington, New Zealand’s capital city, has contributed a guest post before (in Aug 2009, Birding Wellington, NZ) packed with superb photos and birds that – frankly – some of us had never even heard of!

When Duncan mailed me last week saying that he thought I “might enjoy showing some photos on 10,0000 Birds of Wellington’s boisterous large parrots, the Kaka” he was 100% spot-on. The Kaka Nestor meridionalis, an Endangered endemic with a bill that Captain Hook would be proud to wield, is a bird that we’re unlikely to ever get a chance to feature on the blog without contributions like these, and is surely one of those birds that ‘once seen, are never forgotten’. Our thanks go to Duncan for his generosity.

So, imagine getting these beauties in your back garden! As Duncan explained the birds in the following photographs (bar the last two which were taken on nearby Kapiti Island) “dropped by our house a few times to sample our offered apples (one of the views has Wellington Harbour in the background).” I love the Nuthatches and Great Spotted Woodpeckers that come to my garden, but – honestly – these really are amazing birds aren’t they?

Who wouldn’t want this spectacular and rare bird visiting their gardens? According to Duncan not everybody: while most Wellingtonians apparently welcome these awesome parrots, he sent me a rather sad link that proves at least a few selfish people are shamefully less forgiving – http://tvnz.co.nz/national-news/death-threats-kaka-after-pinching-plums-3362099.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

All photographs copyright Duncan Wright but may be used under a Creative Commons licence.

Range & population (taken from BirdLife International’s Datazone)

• Nestor meridionalis is endemic to New Zealand. The North Island subspecies septentrionalis survives in large forest tracts from Coromandel to Wairarapa, and is moderately common only in the forests of Pureora and Whirinaki and some offshore islands. The South Island subspecies meridionalis is mostly found west of the Southern Alps, Fiordland and south-western Southland, Stewart Island and several offshore islands, and is in low numbers in all areas. The population is estimated at fewer than 10,000 birds, and new information indicates that the species has almost disappeared from the mainland except for a few intensely managed sites, and those valleys that remain free of possums. Three generations ago over 90% of the population would have been on the mainland, whereas now less than 50% is found there. Mortality is mainly concentrated on nesting females, so relatively large numbers of males can remain highly visible for a long time after the population reaches a very poor condition functionally.

This photo-gallery has been posted as part of our commitment to supporting projects on Critically Endangered/Endangered birds and to Birdlife International’s ‘Preventing Extinctions Programme‘, which we signed up to as Species Champions in January 2009.

Species Champions are ”a growing community of Companies, Institutions and Individuals who share our concerns and demonstrate their commitment to protecting the planet’s natural heritage by funding the work undertaken by our Species Guardians”.

There are different ‘levels’ of Species Champion (requiring different levels of financial commitment). Whilst we joined the PEP at a ‘lower level’ 10,000 Birds is now officially a Species Champion along with such conservation giants as Sir David Attenborough and the British Birdwatching Fair, conservation minded businesses like Swarovski Optik (who also sponsor 10,000 Birds of course), In Focus, and WildSounds (the Species Champions for the Spoon-billed Sandpiper), and a small number of unsung individuals like Dr. Urs-Peter Stäuble, Ed Keeble, and Peter Smith.

• For a full list of Species Champions please go to BirdLife Species Champions ‘Roll of Honour’.