It's been more than a century since a kokako was born in Hawkes Bay. But that changed on Friday with the hatching of two eggs at the Department of Conservation's Boundary Stream reserve.
Five pairs of kokako were moved from Te Urewera National Park to five avaries in the reserve's mainlandisland in the winter of 2001.
The eggs, laid last month, were the first produced by the birds since the transfer.
Another pair of kokako are sitting on eggs which should hatch this week.
Department ranger Sarah King said the chicks looked healthy and happy, but not pretty.
"They're pretty ugly, with patches of pinky skin and grey feathers.
"The coolest thing about kokako chicks is that they have little pink wattles instead of blue ones. Their wattles won't turn blue for another 8-12 months."
The chicks would be banded in a week, to distinguish them, and DNA taken to determine their sex.
When the two kokako were adult-sized, in about three months, DoC would attach transmitters and release them on the island.
Boundary Stream team leader Tamsin Ward-Smith said staff were thrilled with the hatchings.
"This brings us a step closer to establishing a self-sustaining population of kokako in Hawkes Bay. "
Hawkes Bay naturalist Herbert Guthrie-Smith said kokako were once more plentiful in the region than tui, but the last kokako was seen more than 100 years ago.
There are now just 1400 of the bird, renowned for the clarity and volume of its song, nationwide.
* Last week, two kokako hatched at the Mt Bruce bird reserve in Wairarapa, the first in 60 years.
