Montgomery,Sy Kakapo Rescue: Saving the World’s Strangest Parrot

Montgomery,Sy Kakapo Rescue: Saving the World’s Strangest Parrot
Houghton Mifflin/Clarion/Graphia/Kingfisher 2010 74p 18.00
978-0-618-49417-0 ms E-BNS
Scientists In the Field (HM)#8
In this newest addition to the superb series Scientists in the Field, naturalist Sy Montgomery and photographer Nic Bishop take their readers on a trip through the windswept environment of New Zealand’s Codfish Island in search of the giant flightless kakapo. New Zealand had separated from Gondwanaland before the rise of mammals and had been home to the largest collection of flightless birds in the world. Ever-increasing threats from imported and opportunistic predators has reduced the numbers of these birds to a mere handful, especially the kakapo. Weighing in at eight pounds or more, these night-active parrots now number less than one hundred and have been evacuated from the New Zealand main islands to a remote one off the southern coast. Written in an engaging manner and beautifully presented, the author offers a travelogue of her expedition to this uninhabited island with the National Kakapo Recovery Team and their nest-minders. The book is filled with unique stories about the “winged weirdos” and their natural world and is greatly enhanced by outstanding color photographs that show the environmental and zoological aspects of the region. The descriptions of the search for the parrots and the discovery and collection of their signs and signals are sure to entrance the reader and add immediacy to the search. The book contains a series of extras: sidebar fact boxes, how to conserve the kakapo by supporting the Recovery Progamme, unique facts and statistics about the region, descriptions of some of the more unusual animals of the area, maps, and an index. This is a highly recommended purchase for all libraries. It is sure to be a winner and wonderful for browsing as well as for research. Ogintz, Susan Kakapo, Parrots