Being an island nation with a history of long isolation and having no land mammals apart from bats, the
birds of New Zealand have evolved to include a large number of unique species. Over the 65 million year isolation from any other land mass
New ZealandNew Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses , and numerous smaller islands, most notably Stewart Island/Rakiura and the Chatham Islands. The indigenous Māori named New Zealand Aotearoa, commonly translated as The Land of the Long White Cloud...
became a land of birds and when Captain
James CookCaptain James Cook, FRS RN , was a British explorer, navigator and cartographer, ultimately rising to the rank of Captain in the Royal Navy...
arrived in the 1770's he noted that the bird song was deafening.
MāoriThe Māori are the indigenous Polynesian people of New Zealand . The group probably arrived in southwestern Polynesia in several waves at some time before 1300...
and
EuropeanThe European peoples are the various nations and ethnic groups of Europe. European ethnology is the field of anthropology focusing on Europe....
settlement has been the cause of a huge decline in the numbers of birds.
New Zealand birds were, until the arrival of the first
humanHumans are bipedal primates belonging to the species Homo sapiens in Hominidae, the great ape family. They are the only surviving member of the genus Homo. Humans have a highly developed brain, capable of abstract reasoning, language, introspection, and problem solving...
s, an extraordinarily diverse range of specialised
birdBirds are winged, bipedal, endothermic , vertebrate animals that lay eggs. There are around 10,000 living species, making them the most numerous tetrapod vertebrates. They inhabit ecosystems across the globe, from the Arctic to the Antarctic. Birds range in size from the Bee Hummingbird to the ...
s.
Being an island nation with a history of long isolation and having no land mammals apart from bats, the
birds of New Zealand have evolved to include a large number of unique species. Over the 65 million year isolation from any other land mass
New ZealandNew Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses , and numerous smaller islands, most notably Stewart Island/Rakiura and the Chatham Islands. The indigenous Māori named New Zealand Aotearoa, commonly translated as The Land of the Long White Cloud...
became a land of birds and when Captain
James CookCaptain James Cook, FRS RN , was a British explorer, navigator and cartographer, ultimately rising to the rank of Captain in the Royal Navy...
arrived in the 1770's he noted that the bird song was deafening.
MāoriThe Māori are the indigenous Polynesian people of New Zealand . The group probably arrived in southwestern Polynesia in several waves at some time before 1300...
and
EuropeanThe European peoples are the various nations and ethnic groups of Europe. European ethnology is the field of anthropology focusing on Europe....
settlement has been the cause of a huge decline in the numbers of birds.
History after human settlement
New Zealand birds were, until the arrival of the first
humanHumans are bipedal primates belonging to the species Homo sapiens in Hominidae, the great ape family. They are the only surviving member of the genus Homo. Humans have a highly developed brain, capable of abstract reasoning, language, introspection, and problem solving...
s, an extraordinarily diverse range of specialised
birdBirds are winged, bipedal, endothermic , vertebrate animals that lay eggs. There are around 10,000 living species, making them the most numerous tetrapod vertebrates. They inhabit ecosystems across the globe, from the Arctic to the Antarctic. Birds range in size from the Bee Hummingbird to the ...
s. In
New ZealandNew Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses , and numerous smaller islands, most notably Stewart Island/Rakiura and the Chatham Islands. The indigenous Māori named New Zealand Aotearoa, commonly translated as The Land of the Long White Cloud...
, the ecological niches normally occupied by mammals as different as
rodentRodentia is an order of mammals also known as rodents, characterised by two continuously growing incisors in the upper and lower jaws which must be kept short by gnawing....
s,
kangarooA kangaroo is a marsupial from the family Macropodidae . In common use the term is used to describe the largest species from this family, especially those of genus Macropus, Red Kangaroo, Antilopine Kangaroo, Eastern and Western Grey Kangaroo...
s and
moleMoles are the majority of the members of the mammal family Talpidae in the order Soricomorpha. Although moles burrow, some species are semi-aquatic. Moles have cylindrical bodies covered in fur, with small or covered eyes; the ears are generally not visible. They eat small invertebrates living...
s, were filled by
reptileReptiles, or members of the class Reptilia, are air-breathing, generally "cold-blooded" amniotes that generally have skin covered in scales or scutes. They are tetrapods and lay amniote eggs, whose embryos are surrounded by the amnion membrane...
s,
insectInsects are arthropods, having a hard exoskeleton, a three-part body , three pairs of jointed legs, compound eyes, and two antennae. They are the most diverse group of animals on the planet and include more than a million species that are already described. Insects represent more than half of all...
s, or birds. The only terrestrial mammals were three species of bat (of which only two survive today).
When humans arrived in New Zealand about 700 years ago this unique and unusual ecology became endangered. Several species were hunted to extinction, most notably the
moaThe moa were ten species of flightless birds endemic to New Zealand. The two largest species, Dinornis robustus and Dinornis novaezelandiae, reached about in height with neck outstretched, and weighed about ....
and harpagornis. The most damage however was caused by
habitat destructionHabitat destruction is the process in which natural habitat is rendered functionally unable to support the species present. In this process, the organisms which previously used the site are displaced or destroyed, reducing biodiversity. Habitat destruction by human activity mainly for the purpose...
and the other animals
humans brought with themAn introduced, alien, exotic, non-indigenous, or non-native species, or simply an introduction, is a species living outside its native distributional range, which has arrived there by human activity, either deliberate or accidental...
, particularly
ratRats are various medium-sized, long-tailed rodents of the superfamily Muroidea. "True rats" are members of the genus Rattus, the most important of which to humans are the black rat, Rattus rattus, and the brown rat, Rattus norvegicus...
s (the Polynesian rat or kiore introduced by
MāoriThe Māori are the indigenous Polynesian people of New Zealand . The group probably arrived in southwestern Polynesia in several waves at some time before 1300...
and the
Brown RatThe brown rat, common rat, sewer rat, Hanover rat, Norway rat, Norwegian rat, or wharf rat is one of the best known and most common rats. One of the largest muroids, it is a brown or grey rodent with a body up to long, and a similar tail length; the male weighs on average and the female...
and
Black RatThe Black Rat is a common long-tailed rodent of the genus Rattus in the subfamily Murinae...
subsequently introduced by Europeans), but also
miceThe House Mouse is one of the most numerous species of the genus Mus commonly termed a mouse. It is a small mammal and a rodent....
,
dogThe dog is a domesticated form of the Gray Wolf, a member of the Canidae family of the order Carnivora. The term is used for both feral and pet varieties. The domestic dog has been one of the most widely kept working and companion animals in human history...
s,
catThe cat , also known as the domestic cat or housecat to distinguish it from other felines and felids, is a small carnivorous mammal that is valued by humans for its companionship and its ability to hunt vermin and household pests...
s,
stoatThe stoat or ermine is a small mammal of the family Mustelidae. It is also known as a Shorttail Weasel and less frequently as an ermelin...
s,
weaselWeasels are mammals in the genus Mustela of the Mustelidae family.Originally, the name "weasel" was applied to one species of the genus, the European form of the Least Weasel...
s,
pigPigs are a genus of even-toed ungulates within the family Suidae. The name hog most commonly refers to the domestic pig in everyday parlance, but technically encompasses several distinct species, including the wild boar...
s,
goatThe domestic goat is a subspecies of goat domesticated from the wild goat of southwest Asia and Eastern Europe. The goat is a member of the Bovidae family and is closely related to the sheep: both are in the goat-antelope subfamily Caprinae. There are over three hundred distinct breeds of...
s,
deerDeer are the ruminant mammals forming the family Cervidae. They include for example Moose, Red Deer, Reindeer, Roe and Chital. Animals from related families within the order Artiodactyla are often also considered to be deer – these include muntjac and water deer...
,
hedgehogA hedgehog is any of the spiny mammals of the subfamily Erinaceinae and the order Erinaceomorpha. There are 17 species of hedgehog in five genera, found through parts of Europe, Asia, Africa, and New Zealand. There are no hedgehogs native to Australia, and no living species native to North America;...
s, and Australian
possumA possum is any of about 69 small to medium-sized arboreal marsupial species native to Australia, New Guinea, and Sulawesi . The name derives from their resemblance to the opossums of the Americas...
s. The flightless birds were in particular danger. Consequently many bird species became extinct, and others remain critically endangered. Several species are now confined only to offshore islands, or to fenced "
ecological islandAn ecological island is not necessarily an island surrounded by water, but is an area of land, isolated by natural or artificial means from the surrounding land, where a natural micro-habitat exists amidst a larger differing ecosystem....
s" from which predators have been eliminated. New Zealand is today a world leader in the techniques required to bring severely endangered species back from the brink of extinction.
During the early years of European settlement many bird species were introduced for both sport and for a connection with the settlers homelands. New Zealand had a starkly different appearance to the country or countries from where the settlers originated
Comparison to global bird fauna
The terrestrial birds, wetland birds and seabirds in
New ZealandNew Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses , and numerous smaller islands, most notably Stewart Island/Rakiura and the Chatham Islands. The indigenous Māori named New Zealand Aotearoa, commonly translated as The Land of the Long White Cloud...
each make up about a third of the total number of species. This is in sharp contrast to the composition of the global bird species where 90% are terrestrial.
Eighty seven percent of New Zealand birds are
endemicEndemism is the ecological state of being unique to a particular geographic location, such as a specific island, habitat type, nation, or other defined zone. To be endemic to a place or area means that it is found only in that part of the world and nowhere else. For example, many species of lemur...
.
Conservation
Due to habitat loss, their historical use as a food source by the
MāoriThe Māori are the indigenous Polynesian people of New Zealand . The group probably arrived in southwestern Polynesia in several waves at some time before 1300...
and predation by introduced species some birds are threatened with extinction.
Huge conservation efforts are being made to save the
takaheThe Takahē or South Island Takahē, Porphyrio hochstetteri is a flightless bird indigenous to New Zealand and belonging to the rail family. It was thought to be extinct after the last four known specimens were taken in 1898...
,
kakapoThe Kakapo , Strigops habroptila , also called owl parrot, is a species of flightless nocturnal parrot endemic to New Zealand...
, mohua,
kokakoThe Kōkako is a forest bird which is endemic to New Zealand. It is slate-grey with a black mask and wattles. It is one of three species of New Zealand Wattlebird, the other two being the endangered Tieke and the extinct Huia...
and the
kiwiKiwi are flightless birds endemic to New Zealand, in the genus Apteryx and family Apterygidae.At around the size of a domestic chicken, kiwi are by far the smallest living ratites and lay the largest egg in relation to their body size...
. One well documented conservation success story, due in a large part to the efforts of
Don MertonDonald Merton is a New Zealand conservationist best known for saving the black robin from extinction. He also discovered the lek breeding system of the kakapo.-Bibliography:...
, is the saving of the
black robinThe Black Robin or Chatham Island Robin is an endangered bird from the Chatham Islands off the east coast of New Zealand. It is closely related to the New Zealand Robin . It was first described by Walter Buller in 1872. The binomial commemorates the New Zealand botanist Henry H. Travers...
on the Chatham Islands.
Since human settlement a total of 43 (33%) bird species have become extinct, 16 of these have been since 1840. Under the
New Zealand Threat Classification SystemThe New Zealand Threat Classification System is used by the Department of Conservation to assess conservation priorities of species in New Zealand....
153 out of a total of about 200 species are threatened with extinction.
List of birds of New Zealand
Some of the more well known and distinctive bird species in New Zealand are the
kiwiKiwi are flightless birds endemic to New Zealand, in the genus Apteryx and family Apterygidae.At around the size of a domestic chicken, kiwi are by far the smallest living ratites and lay the largest egg in relation to their body size...
,
tuiAs a noun, Tui may refer to:* Tu'i , a title of nobility in Polynesia and some of Melanesia* Tui Awards, New Zealand's annual music industry awards* Tui , a brand of New Zealand beer produced by Tui Breweries...
,
bellbirdBellbird is a name given to several kinds of bird, noted for their far-carrying bell-like call:* Neotropical bellbirds * Crested Bellbird * New Zealand Bellbird...
and the now extinct
moaThe moa were ten species of flightless birds endemic to New Zealand. The two largest species, Dinornis robustus and Dinornis novaezelandiae, reached about in height with neck outstretched, and weighed about ....
species.
Further reading
- Barrie Heather and Hugh Robertson (1996) The Field Guide to the birds of New Zealand ISBN 0-670-86911-2
- Rod Morris and Hal Smith (1988) Saving New Zealand's endangered birds ISBN 1-86941-249-4
External links