8 Aug 2009

Birdsong recordings to lure kokako to new homes

3:00 pm on 8 August 2009

Thirty rare native kokako are to be relocated in the North Island with recorded birdsongs being played to help them settle in.

The birds are being moved to help re-establish kokako populations in Whirinaki Forest Park near Murupara and in the Waitakere Ranges.

Waikato University PhD student David Bradley will use recordings made from the birds' home territory, including the Urewera National Park and forests in King Country and Waikato, to encourage them to stay in their new surroundings.

Mr Bradley says the pre-recorded birdsongs will be played through speakers that will be hoisted by ropes into trees.