The World's Fattest Parrot, Kākāpō, Named New Zealand's Bird Of The Year For 2020

‘Mighty moss chicken’ brought back from brink of extinction is the first two-time winner. With an owl-like face, pot belly and duck-waddling gait, the kākāpō is one of the most distinctive birds roaming the Earth. The feathery creature has now been named New Zealand’s Bird of the Year for an unprecedented second time.

Kākāpō - a bird also known as "mighty moss chicken" - used to live throughout Aotearoa, but today survive only on predator-free islands. Male kākāpō emit 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 kākāpō unique also make them vulnerable to threats. They are slow breeders, they nest on the ground and their main defence is to imitate a shrub. "Those qualities worked great in the island of birds the kākāpō evolved in but they don't fool introduced predators like stoats, rats and cats."