Kakapo – A large, flightless, nocturnal New Zealand parrot (also called parrot owl) with greenish plumage, now endangered

I like the sound of the word and I like the bird. Not that I’ve ever seen one, but I have a real soft spot for parrots. We had an African Grey, Corky was her name and chasing me to bite my toes was her game. My mother actually taught her to do that. Seriously, because she was fed up with me getting sand worms in my feet from walking around barefoot in Nkana Zambia when I was a kid. Corky got me a couple of times, but nothing drastic, I mean she could’ve nipped off a toe with one bite, but she didn’t, despite the fact that I teased her. Well, how would you like having a parrot sneak up on you and latch on a toe?

She always accompanied us on holidays, down to South Africa to visit the relatives, day trips up to the Congo, and then there was that three-month long road trip up to East Africa when we were all almost killed by rebels. Another story for another time.