Broad-billed parrot sketch actually shows that the wings are not particularly short. They appear broad, as they commonly are in forest-adapted species, and the alula appears large, a feature of slow-flying birds. Its sternal keel was reduced, but not enough to prevent flight, as the adept flying "Cyanoramphus" parrots also have reduced keels, and even the flightless kakapo, with its vestigial keel, is capable of gliding. Furthermore, Hoffman's account states that it could fly, albeit with difficulty, and the first published illustration shows the bird on top of a tree, an improbable position for a flightless bird. The broad-billed parrot may have
Kakapo also inhabited forests dominated by podocarps (rimu, matai, kahikatea, totara), beeches, tawa, and rata. In Fiordland, areas of avalanche and slip debris with regenerating and heavily fruiting vegetation – such as five finger, wineberry, bush lawyer, tutu, hebes, and coprosmas – became known as "kakapo gardens". The kakapo is considered to be a "habitat generalist". Though they are now confined to islands free of predation, they were once able to live in nearly any climate present on the islands of New Zealand. They survived dry, hot summers on the North Island as well as cold winter temperatures in the sub-alpine