Fiordland Tokoeka

Not only are Fiordland tokoeka now considered separate from the Stewart Island birds, there seem to be two separate taxa within Fiordland, with a zone of mixing near Lake Manapouri. The taxa are known as northern Fiordland tokoeka and southern Fiordland tokoeka.

The Fiordland birds are intermediate in size between the larger Stewart Isalnd and smaller Haast tokoeka.

Even though the populations have been separated from each for more than one million years, they still look more-or-less the same and measurements overlap. The differences are in their genes rather than in appearance.

Population status

There is no direct management of the Fiordland tokoeka but efforts to eradicate pests from Resolution and Secretary Islands has successfully created safe havens, and there has been extensive stoat trapping in the Murchison Mountains, near Te Anau.  The trapping was primarily to protect takahe, but also protects tokoeka and other forest birds.  To some extent, their recovery is still in the research phase – that means some important information about whether populations are declining and what may be causing the drop in numbers is not yet available.

While a full survey has not yet been done, the population of northern Fiordland tokoeka is estimated at 10,000, and the population of Southern Fiordland Tokoeka is estimated to be 4500.

Both are considered to be ‘threatened: nationally vulnerable’ by the Department of Conservation.

Preferred habitat

The habitat of both southern Fiordland tokoeka and northern Fiordland tokoeka stretches from the mountains to the sea. They can be found high up in the mountains of their South Island home, burrowing into the snow in winter.