The Kōkako has a beautiful, clear, organ-like song that can carry for kilometres. Breeding pairs sing together in a bell-like duet for up to an hour in the early morning. Populations throughout the North Island have distinctly different songs. A poor flier, the Kōkako prefers to hop from branch to branch on its powerful grey legs. In Maori myth Kōkako quenched Maui's thirst by filling its blue beak wattles with water and offering it to him. Maui rewarded Kōkako for this kindness by stretching his legs until they were long and strong enabling him to leap through the forest to find food. Fortunately the Kōkako population established in the 1980s on Little Barrier Island continues to thrive.