Takahe

Adults feature striking deep indigo-blue plumage on the head, neck, and underparts, transitioning to rich olive-green and turquoise on the back and wings. The legs and massive conical bill are a vibrant bright red, complemented by a prominent pinkish-red frontal shield. Juveniles are much duller and browner, with brownish-grey bills and legs.

Massive red bill with a pink frontal shield, stout red legs, voluminous deep blue and green plumage, and inability to fly.

Length: 63 to 73 cm; Wingspan: approximately 40 to 50 cm (flightless); Weight: 2.3 to 3.8 kg.

Loud, carrying, booming calls and resonant trumpeting sounds, often described as a deep, echoing shriek or honk used to maintain contact in misty mountain weather.

Strictly herbivorous, feeding predominantly on the starchy basal portions of snow tussock grass, as well as ferns, seeds, and insects opportunistically.

Prefers high-rainfall alpine and sub-alpine grasslands, tussocklands, and scrublands, though reintroduced populations also inhabit lowland forest margins and wetlands.

Non-migratory resident, though some individuals may make short-vertical movements to lower altitudes during severe winter snows.

Builds a bulky, well-hidden bowl nest made of tussock grass and leaves, usually concealed in dense vegetation. Lays 1 to 3 buff-colored, spotted eggs. Both parents share incubation and fiercely defend their large territories.

Purple Swamphen (Porphyrio melanotus) - The Takahe is significantly larger, heavier, completely flightless, has much stouter legs and bill, and lacks the slender build of the swamphen.

Acts as a primary consumer and grazer in its alpine tussock grassland ecosystem, helping to shape vegetation structure and seed dispersal.

Endangered, with a slow population recovery due to intensive conservation management, predator control, and translocation programs.

Best observed by visiting protected sanctuaries or guided eco-tours in Fiordland, New Zealand, or on offshore island sanctuaries like Tiritiri Matangi or Kapiti Island where they are habituated and easier to see.

The Takahe was famously considered extinct until its sensational rediscovery in 1948 by Geoffrey Orbell in the remote Murchison Mountains of Fiordland, New Zealand.