New Zealand’s fastest bird, the karearea/ New Zealand falcon, has been voted the 2012 Bird of the Year.
. . . karearea are also known for their aerial acrobatics. They have a maximum speed of 230km/hr and can catch their prey mid-flight, making this falcon the daredevil of the air.
It received 1255 out of 10223 votes.
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Homepaddock 
My parents have a bach on some Taranaki back country land, most of which is in a Queen Elizabeth II covenant, so it’s reserved for conservation in perpetuity. It is bush clad hill country, and there are karearea there. I haven’t seen them myself, but I have heard them.
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I like the karaerea and spent a lot of time in their company when I was managing Te Koawa Turoa o Takitimu for the Oraka Aparima runaka. The birds ‘nested’ at the tops of the cliffs that overlooked the valley and I clambered up to have a look at how they went about their business. At first I couldn’t find them, but then I noticed the feather, beak and bone pellets in the ground and discovered the burrows being used by the parent birds. Once the yunkers had fledged, they began to visit me in the lodge and sit shieiking on a post on the ‘lawn’. I threw them mice etc and they took those. The two young birds used to fight and tumble around for hours just metres away from me. A friend took broadcast-quality video of them and had a great session where one of the birds hovered on the breeze, a metre from the camera, possibly looking at itself in the reflection of the lens. I’m pleased they won this year. I worried that 1080 used on the Takitimu would kill my birds. I don’t know if it did, but I thought the chances high. I submitted against is use there, but there was no stopping it.
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