After a couple of quiet months without any reports, we have received several encounter reports since early September. Often only bird calls have been heard, but they are sufficiently different to stop trampers and mountain bikers in their tracks. People are keen to work out what they have heard and, when searching the internet, come across recordings of NI kōkako for comparison. They can then direct us to that part of a recording that sounds most similar to the call they have heard.
This from the start of the Pororari Track at Punakaiki, which is especially intriguing because of the behaviour of other birds:
"I was walking back to the carpark, enjoying tuis and bellbirds singing, in the bushy area on the well defined track. The bellbirds were imitating tuis, then they went very repetitive when I heard this strange call, like if someone was blowing in a bottle, bit similar to a flute. The call sounded 3 or 4 times, then it was gone."
The best recent report has come from the South Coast Track, Fiordland. Although the bird was not seen, the description of the calls and the location have us very interested and we're excited that the report will be followed up with the installation of trail cameras and an acoustic recorder. Here's an extract from that report from mid October:
"Three very similar, single notes that sounded like nothing I had heard before - quality and clarity like a hollow pipe being blown - I spend a lot of time on that track as we have 120 stoat traps that I check monthly along the south Coast track from the Track Burn through to the Wairaurahiri river I'm there approximately 34 day a year. ... I did not get a visual but it did stop me in my tracks because as I said I'd never heard a call like that it was so clear."
Another report came from the Heaphy Track about 500m from Flanagan's Corner coming from Aorere Shelter. The report was from 20th October and when discussing with others sharing the Perry Saddle hut, several others had heard similar calls in the same place.
"I heard a bird call I had never heard before in NZ bush, and it sounded like it was coming from the treetops. In my opinion the closest to a similar call would be a Tui but the Tui just makes short noises and changes a lot but this was a longer note more similar to the Northern Kokako but certainly not the same.
Our Advisory Trustee, Rhys Buckingham, heard what he believed to be a kōkako call near Lake Moeraki in South Westland, while pulled off at the side of the road.
"I heard a short organ song of about 5-6 notes. It was very loud, strong and haunting, and not repeated. The last three notes were repeated loud 'hollow' notes like a slow piping that penetrated to the marrow of the ear bone, poetically speaking."
We have received another report from the Waiuta Big River Track south of Reefton on the West Coast. Our follow up there earlier this year revealed no sign of the bird, but reports like this continue to give us hope that there may be a kōkako there:
"I heard one long note in the forest there, I stopped and listened for a while and whistled back and heard another three long bird calls. At first I thought it was a bellbird. I've just listened to a clip of a kokako call and it was very similar, but I'm not 100% sure. ... There was a lot of birdsong that morning. ... I was listening out for what I thought were bellbirds and then there was one particularly long bird call which was odd that it made me stop. I whistled it back, and then heard another three long calls."
While installing recorders in the Buttress Stream area of Abel Tasman National Park as part of the bioacoustic study "a short series of long flute notes" were heard, made all the more interesting as there was some moss grubbing in the area - thought to be associated with SI kōkako when palm sized pieces of moss are carefully removed - as opposed to the rough grubbing by a weka or blackbird.
The Salisbury Track in the Flora/Cobb area of Kahurangi National Park was the site of a report of more interesting bird song a few weeks ago:
"We heard very unusual bird song that had us stop and listen for a few minutes. Lower in pitch than everything else, but brighter and higher in pitch than a ruru. Mostly (entirely?) one note, but coming in bursts. So, each call might have lasted 2-3 seconds, each one comprising maybe 8 bursts. We heard this maybe 7 or 8 times, possibly from two different directions. It didn't sound terribly close. There was a kākā in the vicinity which we heard very distinctly at around the same time."
A couple of recordings have been sent to us as well, which are immensely useful in terms of assisting identification of encounter reports. One we believe to be kaka from the Heaphy Track, and the other, as noted above, long-tailed cuckoo at Mount Robertson in the Marlborough Sounds.
The video captured bird calls and the silhouettes of two large birds high in the canopy of coastal forest in the eastern Marlborough Sounds. I've copied a still from the video below. After some deliberation, our team decided that the birds were long-tailed cuckoos. If you'd like to have a look at the video, you can view it here - listen carefully for the faint cuckoo calls in the background.
A report of a sighting of a bird from Point Elizabeth Track north of Greymouth on the West Coast is very interesting and we're keen to get to the bottom of this:
"Red wattle, grey plumage, size bigger than a black bird, but smaller than a tui. Call heard before sighting - distinct and unusual call of this bird as a long hollow haunting sound".
Finally two encounters from the Old Ghost Road in the area of the Lyell Saddle have been reported to us and we're looking into these. A call was described as being from an unknown bird, but when a sighting was added the following day: "Large grey bird similar shape to a magpie flew below us whilst stopped at lookout point. Similar colour to a grey heron", and with other reports from the track in recent years, we're very keen for more reports and especially video!
As usual, none of these reports can be confirmed of course, but they are interesting and encouraging.
As you plan your next adventure into possible South Island kōkako country, please consult our interactive map. Then keep your camera or phone handy to record unusual calls when you get out there ... and of course what we really need is a photo or video!
Kokako? We think long-tailed cuckoo.