What price a kokako?

Press, 17 February 1978, Page 13

What price a kokako?

Parties to the dispute over the future of one of New Zealand’s endangered species of bird, the kok a k o (blue-wattled crow) would all perhaps agree with a recent description of it — that it is a priceless asset. Unfortunately, one side might take this to mean that the kokako is valueless; the other might insist it is beyond price.

The North Island kokako has been described as an incredibly stupid bird — but it is not just any old bird. It is a member of an endemic family of New Zealand wattlebirds which may be as much as 50 million years old — compared with such a “permanent” feature as the Cook Strait, which is only 10 million years old.

Other members of the family were the huia (now extinct), the South Island kokako orange-wattled crow (now probably

extinct), and the saddleback (now restricted to a few offshore islands). This leaves the North Island kokako as the only member of the family probably existing on the mainland. The family is so ancient that there is no bird in the least like the kokako anywhere else. The distribution of the species has shrunk markedly since European settlement, and this is linked with the decline in its habitat. The kokako is a bird of the loweraltitude, indigenous, conifer-hardwood forests. On its own, this reduction in habitat would not matter too much if the concentrations of the bird were healthy in the fewer remaining areas — particularly on Great. Barrier Island, the Hunua Ranges near Auckland, East Cape, Urewera, Raglan-North Taranaki, and Rotorua-Taupo. But population counts in some of these areas

provide good evidence that the numbers of kokako now are only at a fifth of their levels of 20 years ago. Already some of these areas have populations now too small to sustain themselves. Research has warned not to place too much faith in thb kokako’s ability to survive in what may be marginal habitats, and also not to expect its survival in reserves that are too small. In 1970, the Forest Service asked the Wildlife Sendee to survey kokako distribution in all the state forests of Rotorua and Taupo. This survey has been completed and two areas — Pureora and Northern Mamaku —- may be the only ones of the right size, with the right kind of forest, which can support the kokako in the North Island. This will not be certain until further surveys are conducted in the ' Urewera, Raglan-

North Taranaki, and East Cape. Such a survey takes a long time. The logging of much of Pureora has already occurred, amid public controversy, and the Wildlife Service wants a moratorium on any logging of potential kokako habitat until population and distribution surveys have been completed. Even selective-logging by the Forest Service, which does not disturb the habitat as much as clearfelling, is opposed by the W’ildlife Service on the grounds that there is no evidence the kokako can survive there in a partially-damaged habitat.

The kokako (callaeas cinerea) stands 15 inches and is of a dark bluishgrey colour. Its wattles are blue and its bill and feet black. It is almost invariably located by its voice, having a variety of notes in addition to a rich musical song. Although found in the forests of both North and South Islands, its distribution was always uneven. By 1880, its population had already been steadily reduced. Its characteristic mode of progression is to hop vigorously up tree trunks and limbs, glide to the next tree (usually losing a lot of height on the way), and then repeat the process. It rarely undertakes sustained flight but is to be seen gliding between trees or making longer glides of 50 metres across gullies.

Pairs keep together all through the year. Their food is mainly vegetable, although insects may be included.

The kokako may be a very stupid bird — but it is also a very unusuai one.