kōtuku
1. (noun) white heron, Egretta alba, great egret, Ardea alba modesta - a rare white bird that has an obvious kink in its long neck and returns each year to Waitangiroto Nature Reserve on the West Coast of the South Island to breed. It has all white plumage, a long yellow bill, long black legs and feet. During the breeding season it can develop filamentous plumes on the neck and back, and its bill turns a grey-black color.
(Te Pihinga Textbook (Ed. 2): 69;)
Kua tae mai ēnei kōtuku rerenga tahi, kua takahi ō rāua waewae i ngā marae maha o Aotearoa me Te Waipounamu (TTT 1/4/1927). / These rare visitors have travelled to the many marae of the North and South Islands.
2. (noun) white heron feather.
Kātahi te tamāhine ka tahuri ki te tātai i a ia, nā ka heru i a ia, nā ka rākei i a ia ki ōna kaitaka, ka tia hoki i tōna māhunga ki te raukura - ko ngā raukura he huia, he kōtuku, he toroa, ka oti (NM 1928:198). / Then the daughter set about adorning herself, placing a comb in her hair, dressing herself in fine kaitaka cloaks, and placing feather plumes in her hair - feather plumes of huia, white heron and albatross feathers, and then she was finished.
