The Trust has changed the game by organising systematic searches in sites it ranks as most likely to result in an encounter.

We have been assisted in this work by Mōhua Investments Ltd, NZ Lottery Grants Board, Rata Foundation, First Sovereign Trust, The Sargood Bequest, Scotlands Te Kiteroa Charitable Trust and in-kind assistance from the Department of Conservation.

We have received - and followed up - some truly exciting reports of the bird. Yet despite our hard work, we have yet to determine for sure that the bird survives.

We need to lift the game again. That’s why we’re offering a reward for good information, first to capture the public imagination; and second to encourage more people to be vigilant for the bird.

The REWARD is now $10,000

The Trust will pay a reward of $10,000 (NZD) for the first information received that results in confirmation that the South Island kōkako is still alive. We are hugely grateful to the two sponsors of this reward, initially Mōhua Investments Ltd and now The Morgan Foundation, who have matched the earlier reward of $5,000.

We’re appealing to you all - birders, trampers, hunters, pest managers and all other backcountry users - to be the additional ears and eyes of the search effort.

This remarkable bird needs you! And we need credible reports so that we can act swiftly to conserve the species.

We, the Trustees of the South Island Kōkako Charitable Trust, will assess any evidence obtained by you and supplied to us. We will ask independent expert ornithologists to appraise it too. If the SIKCT Trustees all agree that you have found the first definitive proof of survival, we will honour our promise to pay the reward. The Board of the Trust will be final arbiter in this decision and reserves the right to make all final decisions, including sharing the reward if deemed appropriate.

What sort of evidence will do? We’d prefer a verifiable photograph or video of the bird or other physical evidence of survival such as a feather.

Please tell us about calls you hear. Bear in mind though, calls alone are not definitive evidence of survival. Too many other birds can call in a similar way (particularly tuis and kaka). For this reason, we are less likely to be convinced by calls alone. But we’d be delighted to listen to what you’ve recorded and could put them through a new bespoke software programme to identify bird calls (read more here about how artificial intelligence is being applied). Although smart phones have voice recording capability, there are better apps for recording bird song - read more and find apps here.

Your recollections of encounters from the past can also be valuable in adding to our knowledge base.

Where’s best to look for the South Island kōkako? Anywhere in the forests of the western South Island and Stewart Island, especially those forests benefiting from sustained pest control.

The place to start is our fabulous new map.

The map shows you all possible encounters with the South Island kōkako. Use different basemaps and layers to fine tune the map to suit areas of interest to you and click on data points to read more about individual encounters. The map was first published in January 2019 and is maintained up to date with new encounter reports. We are hugely indebted to map creator and keen searcher, Jordan Miller.

If you’d like to receive regular updates on reports and the search itself, email info@southislandkokako.org.