The Kagu - 4 Photos

Meet The kagu. It is a near-flightless bird native to New Caledonia, in fact it might be the national bird of New Caledonia, I think.

It's not the most impressive bird I've ever seen it's got ghostly gray plumage, some cool striking red legs, and a bit of weird beak.

One thing I would say it's it's pretty rare, there are only thought to be about 2000 left in the world, so it's kind of a big deal if you get to see one, which we did in Blue River national park, we were on a shortish walk in an area that suggested you might be able to see them, and there it was, being all flightless and stuff next to the path.

The internet tells be that a Kagu is about 55 cm (22 inches) long, with ash-gray body and often a white belly, tis one looked a little smaller than that though.

As I mentioned it's nearly flightless and primarily ground-dwelling, it forages in leaf litter for invertebrates, small vertebrates, and other prey. It nests on the forest floor, building a stick cradle where a single egg is incubated and the chick reared by both parents.

and as a bonus here are a couple of more internet sourced facts:

Kagus are known for duet songs between mates that can last several minutes each morning, which helps maintain pair bonds in dense rainforest habitats. Interesting this call was used for New Caledonian TV stations as the call-off sound as they shut down for the evening.

With reproduction The pair shares incubation of a single egg and the care of the chick, a relatively unusual arrangement in birds, maybe this makes them some wort of meme for modern relationships or something.

As I mentioned they are considered endangered due to ongoing pressures in its limited endemic range. they in fact only live on the main island of New Cal - The Grand Terre, so I guess I'm pretty lucky to have seen one.