A few years ago I heard about a special kākā at Zealandia. Named Pinky-B by her monitors, she had different colouring to the rest of the kākā in the valley with the exception of her daughter (kākā kura) who also sported the pretty pinky red feathers. I made many trips to the sanctuary in search of these birds but sadly they eluded me, that is until now.
Recently I saw a post on Facebook from a visitor to the sanctuary about an oddly coloured kākā. So I made it my mission this morning to find this unusual looking kākā and add it to my collection of photographed native New Zealand birds. I fully expected to come home disappointed yet again but that was not the case today. Pinky-B was happy to pose for me for about half an hour before flying off into the trees. Capturing these images of her really made my day.
Pinky-B has been well written about already, so I won’t go into detail, but I do recommend visiting these links to learn more about her and her daughter.
THE KĀKĀ KURA by Art by Judi Lapsley Miller and The Peculiar case of the Pink Lady also by Art by Judi Lapsley Miller
For comparison purposes, the image below is the normal colouring for kākā and is from a previous visit to the sanctuary.
