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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.
The Field Guide to the Birds of New Zealand (rev. & updated 4th ed.). New Zealand: Penguin. ISBN 978-0143570929. Checklist Committee Ornithological Society of New Zealand (2010). "Available online as a PDF" (PDF). Checklist of the birds of New Zealand, Norfolk and Macquarie Islands, and the Ross Dependency, Antarctica (4th ed.). New Zealand: Te ...
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]
In New Zealand English, the word "kea" is both singular and plural. The collective noun is a circus or conspiracy of kea. [13] The genus Nestor contains four species: the New Zealand kākā (Nestor meridionalis), the kea (N. notabilis), the extinct Norfolk kākā (N. productus), and the extinct Chatham kākā (N. chathamensis). All four are ...
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.
The kākāpō was a very successful species in pre-human New Zealand, and was well adapted to avoid the birds of prey which were their only predators. As well as the New Zealand falcon, there were two other birds of prey in pre-human New Zealand: Haast's eagle and Eyles' harrier. [49]
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 first illustration of the South Island takahē from Gideon and Walter Mantell's notice of the discovery in 1850. Anatomist Richard Owen was sent fossil bird bones found in 1847 in South Taranaki on the North Island by collector Walter Mantell, and in 1848 he coined the genus Notornis ("southern bird") for them, naming the new species Notornis mantelli. [6]