South Island kokako: from the impossible to the probable?

Forest and Bird, Issue 282, 1 November 1996, Unnumbered Page

South Island kokako: from the impossible to the probable?

SCOFFERS CITE the longstanding view that the South Island kokako is extinct and that the last confirmed sighting was in 1961. Yet persistent reports of sightings and calls from Stewart Island, Nelson Lakes, North West Nelson, Wakatipu Forest and Fiordland have kept the hope alive for many conservationists that the bird might still survive in some dense remote forests. Perhaps the best evidence of the bird’s recent survival is a feather, found on Stewart Island in 1987, and confirmed as coming from a recently living kokako. Abundant throughout the South Island a hundred years ago, the distinctive orange-

wattled cousin of the North Island kokako declined rapidly in numbers this century in response to the same pressures of predation and habitat modification faced by the northern subspecies. One of those who believes strongly in the continued survival of the bird is John Kendrick, former Wildlife Service officer and recorder of the bird calls heard on National Radio (see profile in Forest & Bird February 1996). In a search for the South Island kokako in Nelson Lakes National Park in June, Kendrick is certain that he heard the bird’s haunting call. "On this occasion we were out for a four-day trip. We weren't expecting much because the weather was filthy. Then we heard the bird, the first day out. It was a distinctive song — three groups of three notes. In response all the bellbirds and tui went into song; they just went berserk." "For me, it was the culmination of searches in the area over the last ten years. ’'d been alerted by earth grubbings — very different to what you get from weka or blackbirds. I always investigate these areas of rucked-up moss. You find them in deep beech forest with the very close, rich understorey. The bird is pretty cryptic

— with a reputation for sh being very difficult to see, and lying doggo near these earthworks." Kendrick explained that the response of bellbirds and tui to the call was identical to the characteristic reaction he has observed to the call of the North Island kokako. Ornithologist and kokako devotee Rhys Buckingham recalls an occasion in the summer of 1976-77, when he was captivated by a kokako’s song while tramping on the west side of Lake Monowai. "Tt was like a cathedral bell ringing, it was crystal clear and out of this world. When the kokako are calling, you are smitten. Their song is a drug you can’t get away from. The whole forest is transformed." DoC’s West Coast conservancy has now made a tape using the best-available North Island kokako recordings to try and attract responses from the southern birds. Surveying will take place in five areas in the Buller and eastern Paparoa region and any responses will be recorded. While the department has no plans for a more extensive search until more evidence is available, this could happen soon. A feather collected during a wildlife survey by Timberlands West Coast last year is undergoing DNA testing. The testing is complex and delicate, however, and there are

possible problems with contamination by other materials which might lead to an indeterminate result. "The big worry is that they’re probably old males," John Kendrick cautions. "That’s why it’s so important to try and save them now." North Island Kokako Recovery Group leader Ian Flux agrees that any birds are likely to be lone males. "Females are more vulnerable to predation while nesting, and we know that remnant populations of North Island kokako often have a huge sex imbalance." If DoC does find one or more birds, one possibility is that they will be used in a captive breeding programme (with North Island females if there are none from the South Island) at Mount Bruce Wildlife Centre and a population established on a southern offshore island. Meanwhile the favoured location of those enticing earth and moss grubbings in deep West Coast beech forests shows how little we still know about these forests and why they need to be protected from logging.