The kōkako population in the Pirongia Forest Park in Waikato is expected to reach about 60 this year after the native bird had disappeared from the maunga in the 1990s.
A joint project between the Department of Conservation and the Pirongia Te Aroaro O Kahu Restoration Society (PRS) has worked to bring back the kōkako.
About 40 were released in the park in 2017 and 2018 to kickstart a breeding programme.
Clare St Pierre from the society said with the latest nesting season over it is hoped another 20 chicks will be raised successfully.
''It was in the 1990s the last were captured to stop them going extinct, so DOC arranged that. I think there were five caught and they were transferred to a captive breeding programme and luckily some of them bred and so their progeny was still available to us to bring some back.''
St Pierre was involved in the founding of the society at a time when there were no kōkako at all in the park.
''At the first meeting to start up the society, people came who said we remember hearing the kōkako back in the 1980s and they wanted to hear it again and that was one of the founding aspirations.''
She said the birds were in decline due to predators, such as rats, stoats, possums, feral cats and hedgehogs which all took their toll.
''The eradication target is to keep them under 2 percent index.''
Kōkako population increasing in Pirongia Forest Park
A joint project between the Department of Conservation and the Pirongia Te Aroaro O Kahu Restoration Society (PRS) has worked to bring back the kōkako.
About 40 were released in the park in 2017 and 2018 to kickstart a breeding programme.
Clare St Pierre from the society said with the latest nesting season over it is hoped another 20 chicks will be raised successfully.
''It was in the 1990s the last were captured to stop them going extinct, so DOC arranged that. I think there were five caught and they were transferred to a captive breeding programme and luckily some of them bred and so their progeny was still available to us to bring some back.''
St Pierre was involved in the founding of the society at a time when there were no kōkako at all in the park.
''At the first meeting to start up the society, people came who said we remember hearing the kōkako back in the 1980s and they wanted to hear it again and that was one of the founding aspirations.''
She said the birds were in decline due to predators, such as rats, stoats, possums, feral cats and hedgehogs which all took their toll.
''The eradication target is to keep them under 2 percent index.''
Kōkako population increasing in Pirongia Forest Park