The
prospect of sighting of the South Island kokako has resurfaced as
recently as November 1999. Believed to have been extinct for over
30 years several tantalising clues have come to light recently including
two hunters hearing a distinctly different bird call and a bird
flying low between trees, discovery of unusual moss grubbings and
the finding of a feather.
Nelson ornithologist Rhys Buckingham has conducted several searches
for the south island kokako which is about the size of a magpie,
has a steel-grey plumage and distinctive orange coloured wattles
at the base of its beak.
The North Island kokako has blue wattles and is not extinct. The
kokako is renowned as a song bird. ....
