Kokako in Northland

Forest and Bird, Volume 21, Issue 4, 1 November 1990, Page 5

Kokako in Northland

and

Nick Hancox

Gretchen Rasch

URVEY WORK CARRIED out this year in Waipoua Forest in preparation for an aerial possum poisoning operation has turned up a bonus in the form of an unexpectedly high kokako population. At the time of writing (early September) DoC field workers had located 17 birds, including at least six pairs. The kokako found so far are clustered in the eastern reaches of Waipoua, on high, wet plateau country along the old Waoku coach road. While there have been sporadic records of kokako from Waipoua for many years, this is the first time the birds have been systematically monitored in the forest. But the news from Puketi forest is less bright. Preliminary survey results suggest a major decline in kokako numbers since 1984 when 100 birds were recorded. This decline has coincided with increased levels of possum damage in the forest, and DoC staff from Kaikohe are gearing up for an intensive possum trapping programme around the known kokako area. The department is now weighing up long term management options for the two populations. Possum and goat control operations are either underway or imminent in both habitats. Preliminary stoat trapping is being carried out in populations, albeit temporarily.

The intensive ground-based possum trapping in Puketi may provide a logistic base on which to build rat and mustelid control programmes. The discovery of the Waipoua kokako population has thrown a new angle on kokako management in Northland, and DoC faces some difficult choices as to where and how kokako populations can best be protected in these large and rugged blocks of forest. This work in Northland will be co-ordinated with kokako management in other parts of the North Island under the North Island kokako recovery plan, which will be released shortly.