page_title: North Island kōkako
section_title: Threats and conservation
hierarchical_section_title: North Island kōkako / Threats and conservation
caption_attribution_description: English: One of 14 Kokako (an endangered bird) that have been released in the Auckland Hunua Ranges. It is hoped that these birds will breed and increase the genetic diversity of the Hunua Kokako, which only number about 10 pairs. There are major recovery programmes in place in many parts of New Zealand, when you hear these birds calling in the bush it makes the effort worthwhile.
context_page_description: The North Island kōkako 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. Because of its wattle, the bird is sometimes locally called the blue-wattled crow, although it is not a corvid.
context_section_description: In the early 1900s the North Island kōkako was common in forests throughout the North Island and its offshore islands. Primary causes of kōkako decline were forest clearance by settlers and the introduction of predators such as rats, stoats and possums.
  Unlike many of New Zealand's most vulnerable birds, kōkako survive in low numbers in several North Island native forests. However, research has shown that female kōkako are particularly at risk of predation as they carry out all incubation and brooding throughout a prolonged (50-day) nesting period. Years of such predation have resulted in populations that are predominantly male and with consequent low productivity rates.
  Government-funded pest control programmes, and captive breeding programmes are critical to helping maintain population numbers on the mainland. A "research by management" approach has demonstrated that the kōkako decline can be reversed and populations maintained in mainland forests by innovative management of their habitat. Current research aims to increase management efficiency to ensure long-term kōkako survival. The use of biodegradable 1080 poison has been particularly beneficial in reversing population decline. For example, between 1991 and 1999 the breeding population of kōkako increased tenfold in Mapara Wildlife Reserve (Waikato) thanks to a series of four aerial 1080 operations. A population of kōkako has also been re-established at the Otanewainuku Forest in the Bay of Plenty.
  New populations are also being established through releases on predator-free offshore islands. As a result, conservationists are hopeful of the species' long-term survival.
caption: A kōkako about to be released in the Hunua Ranges near Auckland
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