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 kakapo is believed to employ bacteria in the fore-gut to ferment and help digest plant matter. Kakapo diet changes according to the season. The plants eaten most frequently during the year include some species of "Lycopodium ramulosum", "Lycopodium fastigium", "Schizaea fistulosa", "Blechnum minus", "Blechnum procerum", "Cyathodes juniperina", "Dracophyllum longifolium", "Olearia colensoi" and "Thelymitra venosa". Individual plants of the same species are often treated differently. Kakapo leave conspicuous evidence of their feeding activities, over feeding areas that range between and per individual. Kakapo feeding grounds almost always host manuka and yellow silver pine ("Lepidothamnus intermedius") scrubs. Fossil records indicate that in