Some years ago now, a kākā kura (red-morph kākā) turned up at Zealandia. What was curious is that she had hatched at Zealandia, was banded, and was originally a normal-coloured kākā (find out more about the kākā kura in this earlier story...). To date, she's been the only kākā kura seen in the Zealandia population.
Kākā "Pinky-B" in June, 2021 after moulting. Her entire head is now mostly pinky-orange and her other feathering is perhaps more orange/burgundy-toned than normal too.
That is until a month ago, when the kākā kura's mum, Pinky-B, showed up with a pink head! She was obviously going through a moult and when I saw her again about a month later she was even pinker with perhaps some orange/burgundy tones in her brown feathers. Now I've known Pinky-B since 2008 when I first started nestbox monitoring, and she's always been a normal-looking kākā with a grey head, yellow-orange cheeks, grey-brown top feathers, and reddish underfluffies. Why now, after all these years, would she start turning pink?
Kākā "Pinky-B" in April, while molting. The pinky-orange feathers on the top of her head are just becoming apparent.
I know I have a lot of vet, ornithologist, and bird researcher readers, so I'd love to know your thoughts as to why she'd be experiencing a colour change! My (possibly incorrect) understanding was that a colour morph was a genetic variation so we'd expect a morph to be that colour throughout its life span. Is there perhaps an epigenetic influence in the environment that's switching these genes on? Or is it perhaps a metabolic issue?
By way of comparison, here's a couple of photos showing the earlier kākā kura (daughter of Pinky-B), who was far more orangy-pink all over, and a normal-coloured kākā (other than the gold tummy feathers).
The original kākā kura (Pinky-B's daughter) from 2017.
And another comparison, a young kākā with more normal colouring, other than the two gold feathers on his tum - another peculiarity about the Zealandia population and a story for another day.
[UPDATE: 17 May 2023] I thought you might like an update to this story. As of May 2023, Pinky-B is still with us, is still pink, and is now our oldest known kākā in the Zealandia population. I took this photo of her 11 March 2023 as she was jumping down from a branch onto a perch. I was aiming to capture the colours underneath her wings, which are relatively normal colours for a kākā. It's her body and head colours that have turned a pink shade. She is still breeding, though with smaller clutch sizes, and raised just the one chick this season. Curiously, her nickname of "Pinky-B" was not due to her colour, but named by her nest monitor Lynn Freeman after the local actress and comedian Pinky Agnew.
Come with me behind the scenes of my latest watercolour doodle "Strangely Succulent" and take a trip down memory lane to find out why I was so taken by these treasures!
Come with me behind the scenes of my latest watercolour doodle "Strangely Succulent" and take a trip down memory lane to find out why I was so taken by these treasures!
Aside from a good dose of curiousity and willingness to explore and try things out, I can recommend the following courses, software, and hardware to anyone keen on getting into...
Aside from a good dose of curiousity and willingness to explore and try things out, I can recommend the following courses, software, and hardware to anyone keen on getting into...