Kōkako

An exercise in watercolour wash, pen & ink and designer’s gouache during my studies at Wellington Polytechnic (now Massey University) School Of Design back in the early 1980s.

A New Zealand native bird. Often referred to as ‘The Lone Ranger Bird’ or the ‘New Zealand Crow’.

Māori myth refers to the Kōkako in several stories. In one notable story, a Kōkako gave Māui water as he fought the sun by filling its plump wattles with water and offering it to Māui to quench his thirst. Māui rewarded kōkako for its kindness by stretching its legs until they were lean, long and strong so that Kōkako could easily leap through the forest to find food.

The kōkako appears on the reverse side of the New Zealand $50 note.