Flieder at home in Parininihi. Flieder is one of the founding birds released at Parininihi in 2017, ending a 30 year absence of kōkako from the Taranaki region. Unfortunately, Flieder has paired with his sister Narangi and their attempts to produce fertile eggs have been rather unsuccessful. Still, with 25 unrelated Pureora birds released earlier this year, and other Tiritiri pairings fledging chicks, we hope he’ll figure out that he has other options. Update, December 2019: Flieder is now paired to Rasta, his second cousin.
The scene from the deck at Chateau Kōkako, Hunua. Hunua is home to a relict population that was reduced to just one female kōkako (and more than twenty males) by 1994, after decades of rampant mammalian depredation with no human intervention. Thanks to annual multi-species pest control and the introduction of kōkako from Mapara, Mangatutu, Waipapa and Tiritiri Matangi to add some much-needed genetic diversity to the mix, there are now at least 106 kōkako pairs within managed areas - and 90% of these birds were fledged in Hunua.
