DOC probes sighting of `extinct' kokako

HAYLEY GALE/Nelson Mail

DEAD WINGER: Amateur ornithologist Alex Milne believes he's seen and heard the South Island kokako.

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Golden Bay amateur ornithologist Alec Milne is convinced he's seen a South Island kokako a bird recently classified as extinct and heard its distinct call.

The Department of Conservation is taking the sighting seriously and rangers will visit the area next week armed with cameras and tape recorders in a bid to obtain hard evidence of the bird's presence.

A poor flier, the kokako is notably very shy. There have been no confirmed sightings of the bird for 50 years,

Mr Milne is not the only person to contest its extinct status. Reports of sightings and calls of the bird were made in the upper Inangahua Valley near Reefton last year, although a follow-up investigation of the area was inconclusive.

He believes he first saw the kokako two years ago but didn't follow it up. However, when he heard the bird's distinctive call two weeks ago he had "no doubt" of its presence and contacted DOC.

Mr Milne was near Mt Xenicus at the head of the Cobb Valley looking for rock wrens when he first spotted what he is sure was a kokako.

"It was about 20m away and I had a really good look. It went to ground and never came back up but I'm absolutely sure that what I saw was a kokako," Mr Milne said.

Then two weeks ago, 150m from the same spot, he heard its call. "It blew me away just how distinct the call was."

Mr Milne wants to leave pamphlets in DOC huts in the Cobb Valley to alert trampers and hunters. For the bird to be reclassified, either a photograph or a feather is needed.

The slate-grey bird is 380mm long and has a distinctive orange wattle below its beak.

Mr Milne will accompany DOC rangers on their visit next week.

As the area is several hours' walk from the nearest carpark at Trilobite Hut, DOC staff will camp out overnight.

"Alec's sighting was a really good one and it's well worth us having a look, as a first step," said Golden Bay DOC ranger Mike Ogle.

Other signs of kokako include moss-grubbing on the forest floor, but this sign is also left by other birds.

Mr Ogle said staff hoped to find hard evidence of the bird.

KOKAKO FACTS

• The South Island kokako is a distinct sub species from the North Island kokako, which is seriously endangered.
• Last confirmed sighting: Teal Creek, Mount Aspiring National Park, in 1967.
• Formally declared extinct by the Department of Conservation on January 16,  2007, although thought to be extinct several years earlier.
• Known for its distinctive loud, melodious, organ-like song and  orange wattle below its beak .
• It was common in hardwood forests in the early 1900s but its population was decimated by the introduction of exotic pests such as stoats, rats, cats and possums.
• The kokako appears on the reverse side of a New Zealand $50 note.

- © Fairfax NZ News