We woke before dawn in our sleeping bags and crept out into the brush to witness "dawn chrous" on Tiri. The birdsong that greets the rising sun here is truly extraordinary, and the elusive Kokako has perhaps the most beautiful song in New Zealand. This is who we were here to find.
The Kokako is a really strange animal. You hear him coming well in advance of his arrival- he crashes through the treetops, swinging from branch to branch. He uses his feet (with their opposable thumbs) to snatch leaves and fruits of interest and raise them to his face while he nibbles. If you ignore the feathers, it's hard to believe he's actually a bird. In this mammal-free environment, the Kokako is New Zealand's monkey.
The Kokako's nearest cousin, the Saddleback, is much more believable as a bird. He spends a reasonable amount of time actually flying, and his distinctive brown "saddle" of feathers is a frequent sight on Tiri. Of course, like most of New Zealand's endangered birds, he spends a lot of his time lounging on the forest floor while singing loudly. It's a miracle there were any left when they started the protection program. Their third cousin, the Huia, wasn't so lucky; the last pair was probably eaten by a stoat in the 1920's.
Of course, some birds are actually doing better since most of New Zealand's forest was cleared for farmland. The Paradise Shellduck, one of the most beautiful ducks in the world, is flourishing. We saw 5 balls of stripy fuzz trailing their parents on Tiri. And the Bellbirds and Tui (honey eaters both of them) had no trouble at all with the influx of European flowers that came with suburban development. All of which means it's still possible to see great birds on the mainland too.
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