Talk:Pouākai

Untitled
Can anyone tell me about the hasst's Eagle's Habitat

Correction
"Pouakai" was certainly said to eat humans. As far as I know, "Hokioi" never was. The only legend connected with "Hokioi" I know of is that it spent its whole life above the clouds and was therefore never seen, being known only by its cry. Since Harpagornis was not a soaring eagle, this makes the identification of "Hokioi" with Harpagornis dubious, to say the least. "Pouakai", the man-eater, is a much better candidate for the moa-hunting Harpagornis.

"Pouakai" also turns up -- being ridden on by humans -- in the story of Pourangahua, who brought back the kumara from a strange distant land many days' sail eastward across the ocean. Since the kumara (sweet potato) is in fact native to South America, "Pouakai" in that story may be an exaggeration of the Andean condor. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 202.49.0.2 (talk) 02:25, 18 November 2010 (UTC)

Actual sources please
It would be great to distinguish between poukai (supposedly the giant eagle) and hakawai or hokioi (probably the extinct snipe), especially since the latter has its own Wikipedia page which describes the legend and possible identity of the bird quite well. What we need on THIS page are actual sources that quote stories about poukai/pouakai. One blog post cites (without references) "Taylor (1855) 398; Wohlers (1876) 110; Stack (1878) 63; Skinner (1912) 146-47; and see NZETC. Tregear casts doubt on the stories of Pouākai in “Myths of Observation,” Lucifer: A Theosophical Magazine (Mar-Aug. 1895) 113-14; also Tregear (1904) (and a quoted story)". Anyone feel like adding those references at least? I will give it a go eventually I'm sure. Giantflightlessbirds (talk) 03:10, 10 August 2015 (UTC)

Move to Pouākai
News sources and Ngāi Tahu seem to use this spelling:. Alexeyevitch (talk) 07:28, 19 January 2024 (UTC)