A $5000 reward offered to anyone who can confirm the South Island kokako is still alive generated 40 reports of possible encounters, and interest from around the world.
The South Island Kokako Charitable Trust announced the reward last month.
The bird was considered extinct until 2013, when credible sightings prompted a reclassification.
Kokako trust spokeswoman Inger Perkins said the response had been phenomenal.
"We have received over 40 reports of possible encounters, some recent and others from longer ago, stretching back a few decades for a few of them,'' she said.
"Since the trust's website was set up a few years ago, a handful of possible encounters are logged each year, so to receive so many reports in the past month is a fantastic result.''
The trust was busy following them all up and members were feeling "pretty positive'' about several of them which corroborated previous reports.
The Department of Conservation said that when South Island kokako were shifted from extinct to "data deficient'' a couple of years ago, it was on the basis of a large number of possible sightings presented in a submission.
"Those sightings are likely to have been all that were known about at the time, but they had been collected over many years, and there were less than 100,'' Doc spokeswoman Jose Watson said.
"None of the sightings were supported by evidence such as photos, audio recordings or feathers.''
The trust would prefer a verifiable photograph or other physical evidence of the bird over claims to have heard its calls.
Further information about the search and the reward is available on the trust website, www.southislandkokako.org.
