The North Island kokako is a large songbird with a blue-grey body, a striking black mask and small, rich blue wattles that arise from the base of the bill and sit under the throat. Typically, when seen backlit in forest, kokako seem dark-plumaged and neither mask nor wattles are seen.

Subfossil bones of South Island kokako are common in deposits all over the South Island. Its range was reduced by forest being replaced with open country across much of eastern South Island following Maori settlement.

Declared extinct by the Department of Conservation in 2008, the species’ conservation status was moved from extinct to data deficient in 2013 following the acceptance of a sighting from near Reefton on the West Coast of the South Island in 2007.

Kōkako are found in the North Island in tall native broadleaf forest usually with a canopy of tawa.

1,300 North Island kokako
There are now approximately 1,300 North Island kokako left. In years of abundant food supply, the breeding season can extend significantly, and North Island kokako can raise up to three broods. In 2012, the listing of South Island kokako (Callaeas cinerea) was changed from ‘extinct’ to ‘data deficient’.

The main reason for kōkako decline numbers is predation by possums and ship rats. These animals attack females on the nest and destroy their eggs and chicks. The only way to ensure the survival of kōkako is to protect them from these predators during the nesting season so chicks can fledge.

In the early 1900s the kōkako was common in forests throughout New Zealand. South Island kōkako are now assumed to be extinct. Currently there are no confirmed reports of surviving South Island kōkako.

The hen lays one to three eggs, which she incubates for 18 days. The eggs are pinkish-grey with brown splotches.

Voice: rich, sonorous, sustained, organ-like notes are sung by both male and female North Island kokako, frequently as duet, and typically from a high perch. There is a frequent close contact call of ‘took’, repeated variably.

During winter kōkako mainly eat leaves, fern fronds and some insects. In spring kōkako feed more on nectar and leaf buds. Over summer kōkako mainly eat fruit, moths, caterpillars, wētā and other invertebrates.

South Island kōkako are now assumed to be extinct. However it’s remotely possible they may survive in low numbers in remote parts of the South Island and Stewart Island. Currently there are no confirmed reports of surviving South Island kōkako.

Predation at nests – mainly by ship rats and possums, and occasionally stoats – is the primary cause of North Island kōkako declines. Female kōkako are particularly at risk of predation as they do all the incubation and brooding throughout a 50-day nesting period.

Still without certainty, the trust has found sponsorship to offer a substantial reward: $10,000 (£5,122) for conclusive evidence that the bird exists. Its wild west-style posters show the South Island kõkako in profile, looking every bit a masked bandit beneath the woodcut font: “Wanted: Preferably alive”.

A survey in 2013 estimated 422 pairs on Little Barrier Island, and in 2016 there were an estimated >28 pairs on Kapiti Island. A third island population begun on Tiritiri Matangi Island in the Hauraki Gulf during 1998. Tiritiri Matangi Island is holding kōkako of Taranaki lineage until a site at Taranaki is ready to receive them.