2 Dollars - Elizabeth II 3rd Portrait, Sacred Kingfisher, Silver Proof

New Zealand's sacred kingfisher issues of the early 1990s were part of a broader conservation awareness push tied to the country's native bird protection programs, at a time when habitat loss in coastal and forest margins was drawing increasing scientific attention. The kōtare, as it is known in Māori, holds a specific place in traditional knowledge systems — its behavior was historically read as a weather indicator by coastal communities.

KM#87a is the silver proof variant of a base-metal circulation issue, distinguished in the reference catalog by the suffix rather than a separate number sequence.