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This is the list of the birds of New Zealand. The common name of the bird in New Zealand English is given first, and its Māori-language name, if different, is also noted. The North Island and South Island are the two largest islands of New Zealand. Stewart Island is the largest of the smaller islands.
As an island archipelago, New Zealand accumulated bird diversity, and when Captain James Cook arrived in the 1770s he noted that the bird song was deafening. The mix includes species with unusual biology such as the kākāpō which is the world's only flightless, nocturnal parrot which also exhibits competitive display breeding using leks .
Approximately 71% of the bird species breeding in New Zealand before humans arrived are widely accepted as being endemic. [ 1 ] There is also a smaller group of species are not fully endemic, but are breeding endemic, in that they breed only in New Zealand, but migrate or range elsewhere.
The kiwi has since become the best-known national symbol for New Zealand, and the bird is prominent in the coat of arms, crests and badges of many New Zealand cities, clubs and organisations. At the national level, the red silhouette of a kiwi is in the centre of the roundel of the Royal New Zealand Air Force.
Early European colonists called it the parson bird [17] or mocking-bird [18] but these names are no longer used. [19] The closest living relative to tūī is the New Zealand bellbird; genetic analysis indicates its ancestor diverged from a lineage that gave rise to the New Zealand and Chatham bellbirds around 5 million years ago. [20]
The New Zealand falcon is a sedentary bird that spends most of its time within or close to its home range. [16] The home range of a falcon varies, with calculations from 200km² to 15km², with dependence on food availability. [16] [8] Outside of the breeding season solitary or pairs of falcons will use permanent sheltered roosts. The falcon ...
The weka, also known as the Māori hen [2] or woodhen (Gallirallus australis) is a flightless bird species of the rail family. It is endemic to New Zealand. Some authorities consider it as the only extant member of the genus Gallirallus. [3] Four subspecies are recognized but only two (northern/southern) are supported by genetic evidence. [4]
The New Zealand bellbird (Anthornis melanura), also known by its te reo Māori names korimako, makomako and kōmako, is a medium-sized species of honeyeater endemic to New Zealand. It has been the only living member of the genus Anthornis since the Chatham bellbird went extinct in the early 20th century.