Tuesday, January 16, 2007

Terrible Sad News :-(

Mum and I have been sitting on the couch watching the news, and the New Zealand Department of Conservation (DOC) has announced that the South Island Kokako is now officially extinct.

I had held dreams of being the first person (or cat) in forty years to have a confirmed sighting of this pretty little native bird, but Mum has been thwarting me at every turn. She thinks my motives are less than honest. But I say there's nothing like wild bird!

Mum found the link to a news article on the internet for me so here it is here:
Kokako

And we had a hunt around for some pictures to show you too.

In this painting, the North Island Kokako is the one in front with the blue wattles. It is endangered and there are projects in place to rescue them. The bird at the back is the lovely South Island Kokako and I think they have much prettier wattles. Well they would if they were still around. I blame the dogs.



DOC may have declared the South Island Kokako extinct, but there are some people who reckon DOC is wrong. One of these people is a person called Ron Nilsson. He's an ornth... ornathlo... bird man, and I want Mum to get me to meet him. I think he must have some good methods for catching birds. I wonder if he's seen as many as Maalie and Simon?
Here's a some links to learn more about them (Mum helped me google for them).
2006 sighting
A Little bit more

My aunties have just got home with the groceries, so I might go find out what they bought! I hope you are just as sad as I am :-(

10 comments:

Maalie said...

Oh what a shame, though it was always suspected from a while back. I did actually manage to see the North Island Kokako ("Blue-wattled Crow" sounds such an un-romantic name), attracted it out of cover by playing tape recordings.
I always had dreams of coming across a pair of Huias whilst out tramping in the Rimutakas!

lorenzothellama said...

Personally I prefer the Blue Wattled Crow. Please don't blame the dogs. It's more likely cats. Badger wants you to know dogs only CHASE birds for fun but cats KILL them for fun.

Maalie said...

Hi Plumpy, I've done something about NZ birds, I hope you don't think it's too long-winded! Love, Maalie.

Anonymous said...

I think it's just FANTASTIC thanks Maalie.

Lorenzo, I was just saying that about the dogs. It's really stoats and ferrits and stuff. And maybe cats. But not me. I like fish.

Is Badger a big dog?

Tortoiseshell said...

Sad story - sorry to hear this.

By the way, I like Enya too! She does a stunning version of "Marble Halls", a favourite of Maalie's (though I don't think he'd dig Enya's more modern version.

lorenzothellama said...

Badger is a Border Collie. If you go to my blogsite you will see a photo of her. She is medium/small. We also have a very beautiful cat called Scaredy. Both Scaredy and Badger extend a paw in friendship to Plumpy. I have to put up with a lot of nonsense from Maalie about cats and birds, re: eating them, but he always seems to tolerate Scaredy sitting on his knee, and strokes him when he thinks no-one is looking.

Dr Michelle Tempest said...

Really like your blog - although the news about extinction is very sad. But I am glad it's getting attention on the blogosphere. Keep up the great work. Michelle

Scorpy said...

Sorry to hear about the Kokako but I really dropped by because I saw your avatar, in your comment, on Del's blog and realised it was a Skyhawk. I used to work at HMAS Albatross where they came from and was also an Avionics Tech when I transferred to the RAAF. I have a couple fo shots fo the Skyhawks on the HMAS Melbourne :)

Ju's little sister said...

Hi to all,

Sorry, Plumpy has been enjoying his summer and will be back soon.

Thank you all for your lovely comments - we'll be looking into Badger's stunning good looks and commenting in the near future.

All the best and keep up the fantastic blogs,

Ju's Little Sister (Plumpy's Mum).

simon said...

I am sad when any creature is lost.... BTW its nice to see other people here. :o)