The song of one of New Zealand's most musical native birds sounded once again through Otanewainuku forest at the weekend.
Department of Conservation staff and Otanewainuku Kiwi Trust volunteers completed a "translocation", which saw five kokako birds released into the forest on Saturday.
The North Island Kokako Recovery Plan's website describes the
bird as one of the most beautiful and endangered but most famous for its "haunting song".
The five kokako were captured from the Rotoehu Forest, near Rotorua.
Trust secretary Garry Bones said the team woke as early as 4.15am in order to reach the net site before the birds' dawn chorus. A mist net was raised to about 15m to catch birds responding to decoy calls.
"We waited expectantly for a bird to glide high up across the clearing and into the net, where it would get tangled in the very fine mesh," Mr Bones said.
Funding came from WWF Habitat Protection fund and the Lion Foundation, and the OK Trust was thankful for support from local iwi, landowners and DoC staff, Mr Bones said. Kiri Gillespie
