Kākāpō, Hiding in Plain Sight

Oil on board, white frame
850 x 850mm 

Kākāpō in the Tin Range, Rakiura
Status: Critically Endangered pop 237
As a defence mechanism, kākāpō developed the
‘freeze on the spot and blend in’ method when disturbed
by predators. While this may have worked when the land
was only inhabited by other birds, once mammalian predators, with their keen sense of smell arrived, the musky smell of the kākāpō was an immediate give away. Kākāpō were found in the early 1970s in the Tin Range area of Rakiura.
Some of those individual birds have died recently at grand old ages, but have been important members of the population’s revival as they have contributed a valuable gene pool to future generations.