Hello

We have lots of news for you in this edition, including the exciting report from the Heaphy Track a few weeks ago that you may have read about in the media, along with an update, the latest reports of possible encounters, interest from the Old Ghost Road, curious moss grubbing creating enthusiastic follow up, DNA of a South Island kōkako found - but from a couple of centuries ago, a new year's eve expedition and a fabulous announcement!

This newsletter is going out as news that the South Island kōkako has joined the top 25 most wanted species list is breaking and our campaign receives another very welcome global boost.

And we'll have updates for you soon regarding our bioacoustic and eDNA projects.

I'll also take this opportunity to put out a plea - the busier we get with all these opportunities and collaborations, the more we need your support. The media attention following the sighting and recording on the Heaphy Track, the collaboration with Re:wild and Victoria and Otago Universities, keeping track of reports - we received a lot more following the media attention etc etc - all takes time and resources. Every little donation helps, and if you can make it a regular donation to help maintain our search effort, help us reach our goal of confirming that the South Island kōkako is still alive so that conservation and recovery can begin, that will be even better.

Click here to donate now.

Thank you so much for your interest and your support.

Inger Perkins

Manager, South Island Kōkako Charitable Trust

PS Many thanks to a small group of readers who took time to give us some feedback about our social media efforts. We really appreciate your comments and advice and will be making the most of it all in the coming months. If you missed the survey and would like to give us your thoughts, you can still do so here: What can we do better? Here are our questions

South Island kōkako added to the global top 25 most wanted lost species list

The South Island kōkako is one of eight new wild and whimsical lost species from around the world to have claimed a spot on Re:wild's top 25 most wanted lost species list as part of the organization's Search for Lost Species program - the Guinness World Record-setting quest to find and protect species lost to science. The new species replace those that have been rediscovered since the programme's inception in 2017. They span species groups, geography and habitat.

This is fabulous news for the Trust. We will reach both a local and a global audience through this campaign, a campaign that puts the South Island kōkako firmly in front of those who can support our ground-breaking conservation project.

Read all about it here.

Lots of new reports of possible encounters

Following news of a sighting and a recording made on the Heaphy Track on 29th December, we received a flurry of media interest from the Nelson Mail, including Stuff and the Press, and then TV3, RNZ National Morning Report and others. News must have reached further than before as we definitely reached new ears and we received a burst of new reports from Tasman to Stewart Island.

Find out more here and have a look at our interactive map here.

The RNZ interview is here and the TV3 report is here.

Exciting report from the Heaphy Track

For various reasons, our excitement about this possible encounter report has been high, then knocked back, then restored.

Read the first report here and have a listen yourself as we focus on the recording: "right recording, right description, right place".

And read the follow up here, with an early indication from analysing the recording that it was of a kōkako.

Other news

Is there a 'grey ghost' on the Old Ghost Road?

A couple of reports of possible encounters in 2021, a couple more in 2018/2020 and a few older ones - it's a small cluster, but with all the use that the popular Old Ghost Road is getting, we're hoping for more reports and of course that elusive photograph of the South Island kōkako.

Moss could lead us to the South Island kōkako

'Powder puffs' of moss rather than the random attack of blackbirds and weka on areas of moss are believed by some to be a very strong indication that South Island kōkako are, or have been recently, close by. Rhys Buckingham is one of those believers, having seen this sign in association with likely encounters with South Island kokako over the years.

New year's eve search in the Grey valley

Trust Manager, Inger Perkins, was joined by three wonderful volunteers - top nature photographers and brothers Rowan and Grant Nicholson, and Grant's wife Kelly Chapman - to install six trail cameras and acoustic recorders in steep forest near Ahaura in the Grey Valley. Reports of kōkako-like calls continue to be received from the area.

Read about the expedition and find one of Grant's photos here.

Early 19th century kōkako DNA found

The Lakes380 study led by the Cawthron Institute and GNS Science is investigating the detailed history of lakes in New Zealand. A sediment core from Lake Paringa in South Westland revealed the DNA of South Island kōkako dated around 1800 - 1830.

We now know for sure that the DNA of the South Island kōkako can be picked up through eDNA analysis, if it's present.

Find out about the study and the DNA findings here.

There are many ways you can help

In addition to actually looking out for the South Island kōkako and keeping a phone or camera ready to grab a recording, photo or video, we need your help in other ways to maintain the search to find this ancient bird so that it can be conserved appropriately.

You can become a Friend of the Trust or make a donation here.

And don't forget, when we have enough new Friends, we will be drawing a winner from our Friends for a beautiful painting of the South Island kōkako by Jos Browning.

Need more information?

There's plenty on our website including all you need to know and our Search Blog

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