A bird with fur

[Guest]

The kiwi. It lives in New Zealand. Its feathers are mere filaments. It is nocturnal. It has nostrils at the tip of its long bill. It eats earthworms and sandhoppers, and other small invertebrates that it with its very good sense of smell in the leaf litter. The Maori used to hunt this bird and make cloaks out of its skin. Thank God the various species of kiwi did NOT go extinct like the huia. That bird is also extraordinary. Both sexes were black, but they had very different bills. The male's bill was short and massive, while the female's bill was long, slender and curved. The female extracted grubs from wood (living and dead), and the male killed the prey with his beak. The huia was hunted for its very beautiful, long tail feathers. It is now EXTINCT. A VERY SAD LOSS for the avian community. Acabade's best friend in my book is a talking raven with a sense of humor.

 

The various species of kiwi are threatened with extinction. The main culprit is introduced stoats/ermines. A baby kiwi needs to grow up fast since adult kiwis are too big for stoats to tackle. New Zealand should do to the stoat as it is now doing to the brush-tailed possum: start a fur industry around this non-native pest. The stoat also contributed to the extinction of the kakapo, the world's heaviest and possibly only flightless parrot (though Australia has the night parrot and the ground parrot), on mainland New Zealand along with rats, cats, and dogs. Now, the kakapo, an extraordinary bird (the males become very loud bassi profundi during mating time, uttering the world's loudest avian love song), only survives on predator-free offshore islands. The last time I checked, which was months ago, the total number of kakapos remaining in the world was less than 100 birds. New Zealanders CANNOT let this parrot become extinct. It would be an IMMENSE LOSS to the WORLD. Kakapos are as big as small dogs, and equally affectionate. They are very CUTE birds.

 

Vince

 

Vince