Social media pages in Oamaru have been awash with potential sighting of the birds over the past two weeks and local resident Emma Paton had no trouble finding the usually elusive birds earlier this week.
"We had heard there was a pair of kākā around the gardens and south hill and were lucky enough to run into them straight away," she said.
"They were eating the flowers off the kowhai trees and chewing bark on others.
"They are very rare around Oamaru but we actually ran into one near Weston this time, last year.
"We talked to an ornithologist and they didn't know of any others reported around here for years."
"It’s unusual to see South Island kākā in Oamaru as there are no nearby populations apart from at Orokonui Ecosanctuary near Dunedin," Department of Conservation principal science adviser monitoring Terry Greene said.
"Kākā do fly long distances.
"These adult birds may have travelled from Orokonui or an area where ongoing predator control has resulted in the recovery of kākā populations such as Waitutu Forest or the Eglinton valley in Fiordland.
"Enjoy the kākā but please don’t feed them."
