- Conservation status
- In serious trouble
The hākoakoa is a true pirate. They spend the summer breeding season on subantarctic islands and Rēkohu Chatham Islands, then migrate north and spend winter on the wing at sea. In the air, they chase down albatross and petrel like feathered highway robbers, forcing them to cough up fresh meals that are snatched mid‑air. On land, hākoakoa terrorise their fellow birds by eating penguin chicks and eggs, and adult and fledgling petrels. Some birds prefer to hang out around seal or sea lion colonies, picking at dead pups, placentas and even faeces. Hākoakoa are threatened mostly by fisheries' bycatch and climate change.
Campaign Manager
Christina Hulbe
We're a whānau campaign with shallow pockets but a lot of attitude. After years of backing charismatic over-achievers, we've gone to the dark side and are backing the hākoakoa and the whole skua fam.
Bird books say we’re "large, noisy and aggressive”, to which we say: “you got a problem with that”? Somebody’s got to clean up the carcasses and sort the weak from the strong.
Our top predator status gets us in trouble with humans – directly and through their negative effects on our prey. You could say we’re evolution’s concierge. You could say we’re flexible foragers with a complicated backstory. But with crashing population and weak protection, you’ve got to say we’re a bird in serious trouble.
This year, no more Mr Nice Bird. Vote for the bird who gets the job done. Vote hākoakoa for Bird of the Year.
- Share your vote
