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Kakapo Wins New Zealand's Bird of the Year

New Zealand’s rare green kakapo parrot and chick. Photo: AFP
New Zealand’s rare green kakapo parrot and chick. Photo: AFP
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Kakapo Wins New Zealand's Bird of the Year

New Zealand’s rare green kakapo parrot and chick. Photo: AFP
New Zealand’s rare green kakapo parrot and chick. Photo: AFP

Kakapo, a critically endangered large parrot that can't fly and hides during the day is back in the limelight having been named New Zealand's bird of the year for an unprecedented second time, The Guardian reported.

The green and fawn kakapo– the world's heaviest, longest-living parrot – first won in 2008. After conservation efforts, the population of this large parrot has risen from 50 during the 1990s to 213 now.

Also known as "mighty moss chicken," the famous parrot used to live throughout New Zealand, but today survive only on predator-free islands.

Male kakapo emits a loud booming sound to attract females and smell "like the inside of a clarinet case, musty and kind of like resin and wood," said Laura Keown, spokesperson for the competition.

"The things that make kakapo unique also make them vulnerable to threats. They are slow breeders, they nest on the ground and their main defense is to imitate a shrub. Those qualities worked great in the island of birds the kakapo evolved in but they don't fool introduced predators like stoats, rats and cats," she explained.

Another endangered bird, the antipodean albatross, which is often caught in fishing nets, won most first-choice votes out of the more than 55,000 votes cast but under the competition's preferential system the kakapo came through. Organizers said they hoped the antipodean albatross did not feel robbed.

"The competition has boosted environmental awareness, compared with 15 years ago when bird of the year started. It is definitely part of a shift in thinking about the needs of New Zealand's unique environment and native species," organizers said.

It has also introduced the public to some weird and wonderful characters. The world's most famous kakapo is Sirocco, who reputedly thinks he is human. It has toured New Zealand to promote the plight of his species.

In 2009, he rocketed to global fame after attempting to mate with zoologist Mark Carwardine's head during filming for the BBC documentary Last Chance to See with British actor Stephen Fry, who likened the bird's face to that of a Victorian gentleman. The video of the incident, with commentary from Fry has had more than 18m views. Scientists believe kakapo can live for around 60 years.

Under the last Labor-Green government, the Department of Conservation received the biggest funding boost it has had in 15 years.

The government has promised to put cameras on all commercial fishing boats, and New Zealand has a goal to be predator free by 2050.

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Nearby Sculptor Galaxy Revealed in Ultra-Detailed Galactic Image

This undated handout image released by European Southern Observatory on June 17, 2025 shows a detailed, thousand-color image of the Sculptor Galaxy captured with the MUSE instrument at ESO’s Very Large Telescope (VLT). (Handout / European Southern Observatory / AFP)
This undated handout image released by European Southern Observatory on June 17, 2025 shows a detailed, thousand-color image of the Sculptor Galaxy captured with the MUSE instrument at ESO’s Very Large Telescope (VLT). (Handout / European Southern Observatory / AFP)
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Nearby Sculptor Galaxy Revealed in Ultra-Detailed Galactic Image

This undated handout image released by European Southern Observatory on June 17, 2025 shows a detailed, thousand-color image of the Sculptor Galaxy captured with the MUSE instrument at ESO’s Very Large Telescope (VLT). (Handout / European Southern Observatory / AFP)
This undated handout image released by European Southern Observatory on June 17, 2025 shows a detailed, thousand-color image of the Sculptor Galaxy captured with the MUSE instrument at ESO’s Very Large Telescope (VLT). (Handout / European Southern Observatory / AFP)

The Sculptor galaxy is similar in many respects to our Milky Way. It is about the same size and mass, with a similar spiral structure. But while it is impossible to get a full view of the Milky Way from the vantage point of Earth because we are inside the galaxy, Sculptor is perfectly positioned for a good look.

Astronomers have done just that, releasing an ultra-detailed image of the Sculptor galaxy on Wednesday obtained with 50 hours of observations using one of the world's biggest telescopes, the European Southern Observatory's Chile-based Very Large Telescope.

The image shows Sculptor, also called NGC 253, in around 4,000 different colors, each corresponding to a specific wavelength in the optical spectrum.

Because various galactic components emit light differently across the spectrum, the observations are providing information at unprecedented detail on the inner workings of an entire galaxy, from star formation to the motion of interstellar gas on large scales. Conventional images in astronomy offer only a handful of colors, providing less information.

The researchers used the telescope's Multi Unit Spectroscopic Explorer, or MUSE, instrument.

"NGC 253 is close enough that we can observe it in remarkable detail with MUSE, yet far enough that we can still see the entire galaxy in a single field of view," said astronomer Enrico Congiu, a fellow at the European Southern Observatory in Santiago, and lead author of research being published in the journal Astronomy & Astrophysics.

"In the Milky Way, we can achieve extremely high resolution, but we lack a global view since we're inside it. For more distant galaxies, we can get a global view, but not the fine detail. That's why NGC 253 is such a perfect target: it acts as a bridge between the ultra-detailed studies of the Milky Way and the large-scale studies of more distant galaxies. It gives us a rare opportunity to connect the small-scale physics with the big-picture view," Congiu said.

Sculptor is about 11 million light-years from Earth, making it one of the closest big galaxies to the Milky Way. A light-year is the distance light travels in a year, 5.9 trillion miles (9.5 trillion km).

Like the Milky Way, it is a barred spiral galaxy, meaning it has an elongated structure extending from its nucleus, with spiral arms extending from the ends of the bar. Its diameter of about 88,000 light-years is similar to the Milky Way's, as is its total mass. One major difference is Sculptor's rate of new star formation, estimated to be two to three times greater than that of the Milky Way.

Nearly 30% of this star formation is happening near the galaxy's nucleus in what is called a starburst region, as revealed in colorful emissions shown in the new image.

The observations have given information on a wide range of properties such as the motion, age and chemical composition of stars and the movement of interstellar gas, an important component of any galaxy.

"Since the light from stars is typically bluer if the stars are young or redder if the stars are old, having thousands of colors lets us learn a lot about what stars and populations of stars exist in the galaxy," said astronomer Kathryn Kreckel of Heidelberg University in Germany, a study co-author.

"Similarly for the gas, it glows in specific bright emission lines at very specific colors, and tells us about the different elements that exist in the gas, and what is causing it to glow," Kreckel said.

The initial research being published from the observations involves planetary nebulae, which are luminous clouds of gas and dust expelled by certain dying stars. Despite their name, they have nothing to do with planets. These nebulae can help astronomers measure the precise distances of faraway galaxies.

The researchers marveled at the scientific and aesthetic value of the new view of Sculptor.

"I personally find these images amazing," Congiu said. "What amazes me the most is that every time I look at them, I notice something new - another nebula, a splash of unexpected color or some subtle structure that hints at the incredible physics behind it all."