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It’s easy to envision such a scenario. A petrel, journeying east from the Indian Ocean as the Southern Hemisphere winter ends, arrives at New Zealand’s southern Codfish Island/Whenua Hou. Weary from its extensive trip, the petrel seeks shelter in the burrow of a green kākāpō: a critically endangered, non-flying bird that’s also known as the world’s heaviest parrot.
If this seabird arrives when the kākāpō is ready to breed, the male kākāpō might try to mate with the smaller petrel, possibly suffocating it in the process unintentionally.
In this instance, there are two unwitting victims. The petrel carries a lethal virus: H5 avian flu. Shortly after, the bird flu begins to spread through the vulnerable parrot population, potentially wiping out the species, which consists of fewer than 250 individuals.