Norfolk Island kaka
| Norfolk kaka | |
|---|---|
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| Birmingham Museums Trust's taxidermed Norfolk kaka | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Aves |
| Order: | Psittaciformes |
| Superfamily: | Strigopoidea |
| Family: | Strigopidae |
| Genus: | Nestor |
| Species: | N. productus |
| Binomial name | |
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Nestor productus (Gould, 1836) |
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| Synonyms | |
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Nestor norfolcensis |
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Nestor norfolcensis
Plyctolophus productus
Centrurus productus
The Norfolk kaka (Nestor productus) is an extinct species of large parrot, belonging to the parrot family Strigopidae. The birds were about 38 cm long, with mostly olive-brown upperparts, (reddish-)orange cheeks and throat, straw-coloured breast, thighs, rump and lower abdomen dark orange and a prominent beak. It inhabited the rocks and treetops of Norfolk Island and adjacent Phillip Island. It was a relative of the kākā from New Zealand.
It was first described by the naturalist Johann Reinhold Forster and his son Georg following the discovery of Norfolk Island by James Cook on 10 October 1774. The description was only published in 1844. Around 1790, John Hunter depicted a bird on a kangaroo apple (Solanum aviculare). The bird was formally described by John Gould in 1836, from a specimen at the Zoological Society of London. Originally, the individuals from Norfolk Island and Philip Island were considered two separate species, Nestor norfolcensis (described by August von Pelzeln in 1860) and Nestor productus, respectively, but direct comparison of specimens of both island showed that they were the same species.
The Norfolk kaka was first described by John Gould in 1836 as Plyctolophus productus.
Little is known of the bird's biology. It was said to have lived both on the ground and in tall trees, feeding on flowering shrubs and trees. The call was described by Gould as "hoarse, quacking, inharmonious noise, sometimes resembling the barking of a dog".
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