New Non Fiction Review: Kakapo Rescue

Kakapo Rescue : Saving the World's Strangest Parrot

Text by Sy Montgomery

Photographs by Nic Bishop
Best for grades 4 and up

Call number J 639.978 MON

I didn't quite know what to expect from the Seibert Medal winner this year. I'm not what you'd call a bird person, but this book made the plight of the kakapo very accessible to me.

These strange parrots found their way to New Zealand, and without any mammals around, and very few predators began to fill niches never thought possible. They lots the ability to fly and grew to enormous sizes for birds (between 5 and 10 pounds), with very soft feathers and a very distinctive sweet smell. They can live up to be over 100 years old, but unlike other parrots, they are nocturnal -- sleeping during the day and wake up and look for food during the night. When faced with an unusual situation is to remain perfectly still and see what happens. These adaptations did not pose well when mammals DID make their way to New Zealand in about 1150 AD.

At the time this book was written there were only 87 known kakapo left on the entire planet! All are currently on Codfish Island near New Zealand, and have round the clock staff and volunteers to care for them and their eggs. Sy Montgomery spend a lot of time talking about the kakapo Lisa-- a first time mom and her egg. Volunteers set up an infrared camera in her nest, and sleep in a tent not far away. When Lisa goes on the move to look for food the team moves in and sets up and electric blanket around the egg to keep it warm-- when there are only 87 of something left in the world they don't take any chances that something can go wrong.

I learned so much about a bird I never new existed, and I learned the great lengths that people go to to protect an entire species, as well as how easily a species once numbered in the millions, can be wiped down to less than 100 birds in just a few centuries.

Nic Bishop's photographs are extraordinary, and certainly make this title worth wining the Seibert award, especially along side Sy Montgomery's easy and informative writing.

You won't want to miss the Kakapo!

Click here to view this title in the catalog

To learn more about this remarkable bird and the efforts of humans to save it, visit the kakapo recovery programme webiste. It keeps a current kakapo count and gives updates on information presented in the book. The efforts of the folks on Codfish island-- Today the Kakapo count is up to 120!

-JW-