iPod going bush with kokako flock

The ubiquitous iPod has found its way even into the depths of the New Zealand native bush.

North Island kokako - rare birds numbering only a few hundred pairs in the world - will take the digital musical players with them when they are settled deep in the forest, away from warm-blooded predators.

Waikato University PhD student David Bradley said the birds responded to dialects sung by their kokako friends and neighbours but not spoken outside their home area.

To ensure the birds stay where it is safe, digital recordings of song from the kokako's original habitat will play over loudspeakers in their new homes each dawn.

"The idea is that the birds being released should be familiar with these songs, as they've been recorded very close to where they came from. So that encourages them to hang around instead of fleeing," said Mr Bradley.

Conservationists hope the birds will breed better in old-growth native forest, where mammals that could prey on kokako have been eradicated.

Acoustic anchoring, as the process is known, has been successfully used on kokako twice before.

Twenty kokako from the Urewera National Park will be moved to the Whirinaki Forest Park near Murupara, and 10 birds each from native forests east of Te Kuiti and Te Awamutu will be rehomed in West Auckland's Waitakere Ranges.

Each location will receive birds from two different 'dialect groups'.

Kokako song from the original populations will be played to help break the ice and, hopefully, encourage the kokako to share songs with their new neighbours.

The rehomed birds will be fitted with tiny radio transmitters so researchers can track their movements.