Tangata manu

Motu Nui, with the smaller Motu Iti in front and the isolated sea stack of Motu Kau Kau in the foreground. Viewed from the top of a 250-meter (820 feet) sea cliff at Orongo.

The Tangata manu ("bird-man," from tangata "human beings" + manu "bird") was the winner of a traditional ritual competition on Rapa Nui (Easter Island) to collect the first sooty tern (manu tara) egg of the season from the nearby islet of Motu Nui, swim back to Rapa Nui, and climb the sea cliffs of Rano Kau to the clifftop village of Orongo.

Bird-man (Tangata manu) paintings in the Ana Kai Tangata cave.
Petroglyphs on rocks at Orongo. Make-make at base and two birdmen higher up

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