As regular CFZ-watchers will know, for some time Corinna has been doing a column for Animals & Men and a regular segment on On The Track... particularly about out-of-place birds and rare vagrants. There seem to be more and more bird stories from all over the world hitting the news these days so, to make room for them all - and to give them all equal and worthy coverage - she has set up this new blog to cover all things feathery and Fortean.

Friday 16 November 2018

Likely-extinct bird sighted in Golden Bay



6:55 pm on 10 November 2018 
A bird that is supposedly extinct has reportedly been spotted in Golden Bay near the top of the South Island.
A tramper hiking on the Heaphy Track was looking for takahē in the bush within metres of the Gouland Downs Hut about a month ago and saw what he described as a large dark blue bird with orange under its beak.
The bird flew onto a branch, hopped along a couple of branches, then flew away.
It's thought to have been a South Island kōkako, known as "the grey ghost".
South Island Kōkako Charitable Trust member Ron Nilsson said that like all the half dozen or so sightings reported annually, this one would be taken seriously.
"There's probably a few birds there but not many. You know, how do you find them? It's a lot more difficult than you might imagine.
"But, every now and again, somebody hears one, somebody sees one."
The trust is offering a $10,000 reward for definitive photographic evidence of the South Island kōkako's existence.

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