The voting for New Zealand’s Bird of the Year has changed my blogging plans slightly. The next few will be about New Zealand birds! We’re going to start with my favourite forest bird – the Kōkako. 
The North Island Kōkako (Callaeas wilsoni) is a large, distinctive songbird with blue wattles. They are endemic to New Zealand – found nowhere else on earth. Once widespread, they are now limited to managed populations in areas where pests have been eradicated. The South Island Kōkako (Callaeas cinerea) was smaller, darker, and had orange wattles. It disappeared in the late 1960’s, and although people still search for it after a sighting in 2007, it is presumed extinct.
Kōkako are adapted to bounding through the canopy and branches to forage, and have long strong legs. Their home is the tall native forests, but nest predation by rats and other mammals, as well as habitat fragmentation and loss, have caused their decline. Like many New Zealand natives, their nests are often close to the ground – easy pickings for nimble mammals. In the 1990’s, only 330 pairs remained. This has been increased by pest management and translocation, and there are now over a thousand pairs spread throughout managed reserves in the North Island.
Kōkako are renowned for their song, which is described as rich, clear, and haunting. I’ve attached a recording at the bottom of this post that I made on Tiritiri Matangi of Bandit singing in the early afternoon while foraging with a presumed mate. The song of the Kōkako varies widely, and they have regional dialects, much like accents! Translocated birds will often pick up the dialect of their new home. Pairs duet together, and develop their song throughout their lives. Hearing their unique notes in a full-voiced morning chorus is an experience worth having.
For more about Kōkako, visit the New Zealand Birds Online page. There is also a lot of information available about the South Island Kōkako! If you’ve fallen in love with these sleek, sonorous birds, why not cast a vote for them to be New Zealand’s Bird of the Year?
Click play to hear Bandit sing, with a few Bellbirds in the background!
Reference
Innes, J. 2013 [updated 2015]. North Island kokako. In Miskelly, C.M. (ed.) New Zealand Birds Online. www.nzbirdsonline.org.nz
