Recording made in hunt for SI ko¯ kako
Two haunting notes ringing through a South Island forest have sent a ripple of excitement through those searching for the elusive ko¯kako.
In a recording made on the Heaphy Track in Kahurangi National Park on December 29, you can hear two soft notes, a little like someone blowing over the top of a bottle.
South Island Ko¯kako Charitable Trust general manager Inger Perkins said her heart beat a little faster when she heard the audio. ‘‘To my ear, it sounds pretty exciting. It’s really encouraging.’’
Leon Staikopoulos, who recorded the audio between Aorere Shelter and Flanagan’s Corner, the highest point of the Heaphy Track and a spot where possible ko¯kako calls have been heard before, noted a ‘‘slow, single mournful long sound’’.
The call was similar to that of the North Island ko¯ kako, he reported.
Looking into the forest, Staikopoulos spotted a bird high in a beech tree. ‘‘The shape and size of bird seemed consistent with North Island ko¯ kako, which we spotted in forests before,’’ Staikopoulos noted. ‘‘It was gliding silently until it disappeared further downhill, and didn’t seem to flap it wings or ‘dive’ in the way that I often see tu¯¯ı behave.’’
In December, the trust installed more than 20 recording devices in the area. These, along with the latest audio, will be analysed over the coming weeks by various experts.
Doubters say the recording could be a ka¯ka¯, a bird with a large vocal range, or a tu¯¯ı, famous for its mimicry.
However, Perkins disagrees. ‘‘It’s different to what you hear as you walk through the forest,’’ she said.
The last confirmed sighting of the South Island ko¯kako was in 1967. In 2008, the Department of Conservation declared the bird extinct.
The South Island Ko¯kako Charitable Trust formed in 2010, giving itself five years to find definitive proof of the bird’s presence in the South Island.
In 2013, after multiple independent reports of the ko¯ kako’s song across the South Island, DOC moved the ko¯kako off the extinct list and into the ‘‘data deficient’’ category.
Today, the trust is going strong, and a $10,000 reward being offered for proof of the South Island ko¯ kako’s existence has attracted hundreds of reports.
Perkins urged trampers on the Heaphy Track to keep their cameras at the ready.