Birds of New Zealand Birds of New Zealand The birds of New Zealand evolved into an avifauna that included a large number of endemic species (that is, species found in no other country). As an island archipelago New Zealand accumulated bird diversity and when Captain James Cook arrived in the 1770s he noted that the bird song was deafening. The mix includes species with unusual biology such as the kakapo which is the world's only flightless, nocturnal, lek (competitive display) breeding parrot, but also many species that are similar to neighboring land areas. A process of colonization, speciation and extinction has been at play
Kakapo approximately every five years, with the ripening of the rimu fruit. In mating years, males making "booming" calls for 6–8 hours every night for more than four months. Each court consists of one or more saucer-shaped depressions or "bowls" dug in the ground by the male, up to deep and long enough to fit the half-metre length of the bird. The kakapo is one of only a handful of birds in the world which actually constructs its leks. Bowls are often created next to rock faces, banks, or tree trunks to help reflect sound: the bowls themselves function as amplifiers