Ashleigh Young on an extinction event

“Show us the bird,” I found myself muttering at times while reading Hard by the Cloud House by Peter Walker, a deeply thoughtful, often hilarious, at times rambling – but somehow delightfully so – search for the story of a big bird.

But not just any bird: the bird. This is Harpagornis moorei, Te Hōkioi, Haast’s eagle, the…