The cockatoo (Strigops habroptilus) is the first bird in racing history to win the Bird of the Year title for the second time, organizers said Monday.
During the two-week vote, an albatross named Diomedea antipodensis took the lead, but in the end the parrot emerged victorious from the competition.
Of the cocoons native to New Zealand alone, described by British zoologist Mark Karowardibi as “the world’s largest, fattest, and most flightless parrot,” only 50 specimens remained by the 1990s when the birds fell prey to invasive predators.
The remaining population, transferred to predator-free islands of New Zealand, began to grow through the efforts of a scientific breeding program. The bird population now exceeds 200 and each specimen carries a tracker.
The owl parrot is a foul-smelling nocturnal bird that lives mostly in hollows between tree roots. They can weigh more than two kilograms, and their length is from 50 to 60 cm. The male is larger than the hen. It feeds on berries and shoots, but sometimes it catches insects and lizards. The color of the plumage is yellow-brown-green, the horn is large on the beak and the legs are gray. Feathers are arranged around his eyes, which is why he is reminiscent of an owl.
The annual competition, organized by Forest and Bird, a conservation organization in New Zealand, aims to introduce and promote the island’s native birds in the Pacific Ocean.
The Bird of the Year contest received a record over 55,000 correct votes this year.
However, a small scandal overshadowed this year’s competition:
More than 1,500 false votes were cast for one of the contestants, the little spotted kiwi, a national symbol.
Open the image: youtube.com
