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The hunt for the South Island kōkako, New Zealand’s long-lost bird

The last accepted sighting of the South Island kōkako was in 1967, and it was declared extinct in 2007 – but a potential sighting that same year led to its reclassification, and a charitable trust set up to find it has been searching for the bird ever since

By Penny Sarchet

20 May 2023

A 19th century illustration of the South Island kōkako

Public Domain

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Over the past few months, I’ve had the pleasure of diving deep into the Search For Lost Birds, an initiative that’s steering the world’s army of birdwatchers, conservationists and researchers towards finding 10 of the most enigmatic and important bird species lost to science. There have already been some successes – including the extraordinary rediscoveries of both the Santa Marta sabrewing and…

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