Skkraarrrkk!! I’m Sirocco the kākāpō, DOC’s official Spokesbird for conservation. Can you believe it? Our kākāpō whānau has been crowned Bird of the Year!
A lot of people are calling us kākāpō the mighty moss chicken, but I’m here to tell you that we’ve got a bit more going on than you might think. Just because I wear my transmitter with pride, doesn’t mean that I don’t love to give our rangers the run around. Did you know that we kākāpō can be very hard to catch? Even though I have short legs, I can be pretty speedy and because I’m small, I can sneak through dense vegetation like lightening! I’m also an awesome climber – a 20 metre rimu tree? No match for me and my mates! It recently took the rangers seven attempts to catch my mum Zephyr and change her transmitter.
We know though, that if we want to keep wearing our crown, we’ve got to stand up and be counted – even if it means being caught every once and a while. So, while I do love a game of hide and seek, I want to say a big thank you to our human guardians for keeping us safe!
