The South Island kōkako (''Callaeas cinereus'') is a possibly extinct forest bird
endemic
Endemism is the state of a species being found in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also found else ...
to the
South Island of
New Zealand
New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...
. Unlike its close relative, the
North Island kōkako
The North Island kōkako (''Callaeas wilsoni'') is an endangered forest bird which is endemic to the North Island of New Zealand. It is grey in colour, with a small black mask. It has blue wattles (although this colour develops with age: in the ...
(''C. wilsoni''), it has largely orange wattles, with only a small patch of blue at the base, and was also known as the orange-wattled crow (though it was not a
corvid
Corvidae is a cosmopolitan family of oscine passerine birds that contains the crows, ravens, rooks, jackdaws, jays, magpies, treepies, choughs, and nutcrackers. In colloquial English, they are known as the crow family or corvids. Currently, ...
). The last accepted sighting in 2007 was the first considered genuine since 1967, although there have been several other unauthenticated reports.
Taxonomy
The kōkako was first described by German naturalist
Johann Friedrich Gmelin in 1788 as ''Glaucopis cinerea,'' from the
Latin
Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...
''cinereus'' ("grey"). For some time the North Island and South Island birds were considered subspecies of ''Callaeas cinerea'', but since 2001 North Island birds have been officially recognised as ''C. wilsoni'', and genetic evidence confirms their difference.
Although the genus ''Callaeas'' is masculine, the
species epithet ''cinerea'' is not masculinised to match, though some authors have argued it should be.
Description
![Callaeas cinerea (AM LB8554-7)](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/2b/Callaeas_cinerea_%28AM_LB8554-7%29.jpg)
Like the North Island kōkako, this was a slate-grey bird with long legs and a small black mask;
Reischek considered its plumage slightly lighter than the North Island species. Its wattles were distinctly orange in colour with a dark blue base; young birds had much lighter wattles. It seems to have spent more time on the ground than the North Island species, but been a better flier.
Kōkako have distinctive organ- and flute-like duetting calls. Early explorer
Charlie Douglas described the South Island kōkako call: "Their notes are very few, but the sweetest and most mellow toned I ever heard a bird produce." Based on extant records, South Island kōkako eggs were larger than their North Island counterparts.
Distribution
At the time of European settlement, South Island kōkako were found on the West Coast from
northwest Nelson to
Fiordland
Fiordland is a geographical region of New Zealand in the south-western corner of the South Island, comprising the westernmost third of Southland. Most of Fiordland is dominated by the steep sides of the snow-capped Southern Alps, deep lake ...
, as well as
Stewart Island,
Banks Peninsula, and the
Catlins
The Catlins (sometimes referred to as The Catlins Coast) comprises an area in the southeastern corner of the South Island of New Zealand. The area lies between Balclutha and Invercargill, straddling the boundary between the Otago and Southla ...
. Subfossil bones suggest they were formerly found throughout the South Island, but forest burning by
Polynesians eliminated them from dry eastern lowland forest.
Introduced mammalian predators and forest clearance by settlers reduced their numbers further: by 1900 the bird was uncommon in the South Island and Stewart Island, and had almost disappeared by 1960.
Its vulnerability compared to the North Island species was perhaps due to its foraging and nesting close to the ground.
Conservation status
The South Island kōkako was formally declared extinct by the
Department of Conservation
An environmental ministry is a national or subnational government agency politically responsible for the environment and/or natural resources. Various other names are commonly used to identify such agencies, such as Ministry of the Environment ...
in 2007, as it had been 40 years since the last authenticated sighting at
Mt Aspiring in 1967.
In November 2013, however, the
Ornithological Society of New Zealand
The Ornithological Society of New Zealand (OSNZ), also known as Birds New Zealand, is a non-profit organisation dedicated to the study of birds and their habitats in the New Zealand region. Founded in 1940, it caters to a wide variety of people in ...
accepted as genuine a reported sighting by two people near
Reefton
Reefton is a small town in the West Coast region of New Zealand, some 80 km northeast of Greymouth, in the Inangahua River valley. Ahaura is 44 km south-west of Reefton, Inangahua Junction is 34 km to the north, Maruia is 63&nb ...
in 2007, and changed the bird's
New Zealand Threat Classification status from "extinct" to "data deficient". Eleven other sightings from 1990 to 2008 were considered to be only "possible" or "probable".
A supposed kōkako feather was found in 1995, but examination by scientists at the
National Museum showed it to be from a
blackbird, though doubt over this conclusion exists due to the morphology of the feather and the identity of the feather used for the DNA test.
Unconfirmed sightings of South Island kōkako and reports of calls have continued,
but no authenticated recent remains, feathers, droppings, video, or photographs exist. The
IUCN Red List
The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List of Threatened Species, also known as the IUCN Red List or Red Data Book, founded in 1964, is the world's most comprehensive inventory of the global conservation status of biol ...
status of the species is, as of 2016, Critically Endangered (Possibly Extinct). The most recent unconfirmed sighting was in November 2018, in the
Heaphy Track
The Heaphy Track is a popular tramping and mountain biking track in the north west of the South Island of New Zealand. It is located within the Kahurangi National Park and classified as one of New Zealand's ten Great Walks by the Department ...
in
Kahurangi National Park
Kahurangi National Park in the northwest of the South Island of New Zealand is the second largest of the thirteen national parks of New Zealand. It was gazetted in 1996 and covers , ranging to near Golden Bay in the north. Much of what was t ...
. A potential kōkako
call
Call or Calls may refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media Games
* Call, a type of betting in poker
* Call, in the game of contract bridge, a bid, pass, double, or redouble in the bidding stage
Music and dance
* Call (band), from Lahore, Paki ...
, consisting of a "a distinct couple of soft long notes" was recorded at Heaphy Track on 29 December 2021, followed by a sighting of "a bird of the right size and colour".
References
External links
South Island Kokako Charitable TrustSouth Island Kokako at New Zealand Birds Online
{{Authority control
South Island kōkako
Birds of the South Island
South Island kōkako
South Island kōkako
Endemic birds of New Zealand
Taxobox binomials not recognized by IUCN