BIRDS

In comparison with the nearest land mass, Australia, New Zealand has relatively few species of land birds. For instance, morepork and laughing owl are our only owls (eight species of owl in Australia); we have only two hawks (24 hawks in Australia); one kingfisher (10 in Australia); and so on. The explanation of a fauna so limited – a characteristic of nearly all the forms of terrestrial life found in New Zealand besides the land birds – must lie in the long isolation of New Zealand from other lands. According to geological evidence New Zealand could not possibly have been reached by land since the Cretaceous Period approximately 70 million years ago. Amongst the most remarkable of New Zealand land birds are the moas and kiwis, and these must be of extremely ancient lineage, for when their ancestors arrived in New Zealand they were wingless. It is also probable that certain of the unique forest birds, like the moas and kiwis, were very early arrivals, but they came by flight and not along a land route. These are the families comprising the rifleman and other New Zealand wrens, the New Zealand “wattle birds” (huia, saddleback, and kokako), and the native thrush. These three families apparently have no close relatives in the world today.

It seems probable that the remaining members of the bird fauna arrived at intervals across the dividing seas by the process of aerial colonisation; bats, too, colonised after the country was isolated, although the last land link was severed too early to enable New Zealand to receive an invasion of non-flying mammals. Many New Zealand birds are only slightly different from members of the Australian bird fauna (e.g., fantail) and must therefore have arrived from Australia in comparatively recent geological times. The considerable number of Australian species recorded as stragglers in New Zealand during the past hundred years gives evidence in support of this hypothesis; it can easily be imagined that over long periods of time numbers of stragglers arrived, and some of these remained to become permanent members of the fauna. Within historic times there are records of seven such stragglers that have begun to breed in New Zealand – white-faced heron, royal spoonbill, grey teal, Australian coot, spur-winged plover, welcome swallow, and silvereye.

The bird fauna includes a number of remarkable species that have evidently been much longer in New Zealand and have only remote relatives in Australia or to the north (eastern Asia-Melanesia), e.g., wrybill, weka, and takahe. This group of older colonists includes flightless species, and these, unlike the moas and kiwis, must have developed this feature after their arrival.

The sea birds include some – mainly the essentially coastal gulls, terns, gannets, and certain shags – which, like the land birds, provide a comparatively recent link with Australia. But New Zealand's rich sea-bird fauna includes two groups, the penguins and petrels, which apparently originated in the south.

Forest Birds

The European discoverers found New Zealand clothed in extensive areas of forest, and among the forest birds were included some of the most remarkable species in the fauna. Forest-inhabiting birds were affected by widespread changes within a short period after European settlement. Habitat was rapidly reduced as forest was transformed to farm land, and the birds, vulnerable through long isolation, were subjected to the rats, mustelids, and other mammals introduced by man. A few accounts left by early naturalists enable some impression to be formed of the original bird life, but the opportunity to understand fully the relationships of the native birds in the economy of the forest has been lost.

Prominent in the primitive forests were the birds of a remarkable endemic family, the “wattle birds” (from their conspicuous chin wattles), but this family unfortunately proved almost incapable of surviving changed conditions. Originally the most widely distributed species, the black-and-brown saddleback (Philesturnus) probably exists now only on a few off-shore islands; in the forest it fed both on fruit and on insects, observations on recent visits to the islands suggest that it foraged among litter on the forest floor. The kokako (or “native crow”) (Callaeas), mainly a leaf and fruit eater, lived more exclusively at higher levels in the trees: there are still extensive forest areas in the North Island (and possibly a few localities in the South Island and Stewart Island) which contain remnants of this large, handsome, blue-grey species The saddleback and kokako are represented by separate subspecies in North and South Islands; in the kokako this difference is a striking one, the wattles in the North Island subspecies being bright blue, and in the South Island subspecies, orange. The third member of the family, the huia (Heteralocha), had a remarkably limited distribution, inhabiting only the mountain and lowland forests of the south-eastern portion of the North Island. This, perhaps the most distinctive member of the bird fauna characterised by the marked difference between the bills of male and female, is the only forest bird which became extinct as the result of the European settlement of New Zealand. The huia had a clearly defined role in the primitive forest, as it fed largely upon the insect larvae in rotting and fallen limbs and trunks; the stout bill of the male would be employed to break open the decaying material, while the female used her long, curved bill to probe into crevices. The saddleback, which moves in family parties or small flocks, constantly gives a penetrating, chattering call. It also has a soft, flutelike song, and soft musical notes were sometimes delivered by the huia; the kokako is noted for its powerful, flutelike song.

While there is fortunately not a long list of native forest birds that, like the wattle birds, were brought low by the coming of European man, a number of species have survived only in the larger tracts of forest. The native thrush (Turnagra), a handsome forest species of warm brown and reddish plumage, was well known as a tame and confiding visitor to the camps of explorers and bushmen, but it declined suddenly after settlement began, and is now extremely rare; there are separate subspecies in both main islands. The bush wren (Xenicus longipes), now local and rare, was originally of wide distribution in the mountain districts of the South Island and the central and southern North Island. Still widely distributed in the deeper forests are the following: kaka (Nestor meridionalis), the parrakeets (Cyanoramphus), robin (Miro australis), whitehead (North Island only) (Mohoua albicilla), and yellowhead (South Island only) (Mohoua ochrocephala). Finally, the stitchbird (Notiomystis), a colourful honeyeater found originally in North Island forests and apparently common over much of the island, proved to be extremely susceptible to change. This species disappeared completely on the mainland, but Little Barrier Island bird sanctuary still has a thriving population.

Another group comprises the portion of the original forest bird fauna evidently less sensitive to, or capable of gaining some advantage from, the changes brought about by settlement. These species still have a wide area of distribution both in the more extensive native forests and in smaller remnants. They have also to a varying degree colonised the exotic tree plantings established in the early days of settlement, while some are becoming strongly entrenched in afforestation tracts. The following may be placed in this category: kiwis (Apteryx), weka (Gallirallus), New Zealand pigeon (Hemiphaga novaeseelandiae), shining cuckoo (Chalcites lucidus), long-tailed cuckoo (Eudynamis taitensis), morepork (Ninox novaeseelandiae), rifleman (Acanthisitta chloris), fantail (Rhipidura fuliginosa), tomtit (Petroica macrocephala), brown creeper (South Island only) (Finschia novaeseelandiae), grey warbler (Gerygone igata), bellbird (Anthornis melanura), tui (Prosthemadera novaeseelandiae), and silvereye (Zosterops lateralis). Several species are familiar in garden or park, especially the grey warbler, fantail, and silvereye, as well as the two honeyeaters, the bellbird and tui. The latter are readily attracted into densely settled districts to nectar-bearing trees or shrubs. The two cuckoos are summer visitors which breed in New Zealand and leave in autumn for their winter quarters in the tropical Pacific; the cuckoos are New Zealand's only land-bird migrants. The shining cuckoo, common in settled districts, has the parasitic breeding habits characteristic of the family and places its egg in the nest of the grey warbler.

The kiwis and weka – flightless birds – were a notable feature on the forest floor in the original forests. Although ground living, these birds suffered less than would be expected from the presence of predatory mammals, and the three species of kiwi especially are still well established. The kiwis occur mainly near the larger forest areas but they also feed and nest in adjacent scrub land or rough farm land. A severe decrease was suffered by the weka in most areas, but it is recovering strongly and may again become widespread.

Mountains and Open Country

On the coming of Europeans extensive tracts were clothed in tussock grassland, especially on the eastern plains and lowlands of the South Island, while the largely mountainous spine of the South Island (also to some extent in the eastern North Island) furnished alpine tussock and fellfield or subalpine scrub.

There were three essentially open-country birds: harrier (Circus approximans), pipit (Anthus novaeseelandiae), and New Zealand quail (Coturnix novaezealandiae), but it is of note that all did not gain equally from settlement: the harrier was destined to spread widely in settled districts, where it is now everywhere common; the pipit, although well adapted to rougher farm land, does not thrive in the more intensively cultivated country, while the native quail became extinct. The quail was a close relative of the common stubble quail of Australia, and is thus one of the comparatively recent additions to the fauna. The weka extended both into alpine and into lowland tussock country, especially the subspecies (the “buff weka”) occupying the eastern South Island. This was a common bird of the Canterbury Plains and foothills, and familiar to the early settlers.

The kingfisher (Halcyon sancta) may be mentioned here, since its range included both the more open portions of forest and a variety of open country habitats. It is of more diversified habits than its European namesake, feeding largely on insects, worms, lizards, and other creatures captured on the ground, as well as fish and seashore animals, with a correspondingly wide distribution which has been little affected by settlement. The falcon (Falco novaeseelandiae) ranged in the early days of settlement from forest to open plain, extending into the mountains; it is now of limited distribution.

The kea (Nestor notabilis) is New Zealand's outstanding alpine bird, an unforgetable feature of the South Island mountains and distinctive in that its habitat is unlike that of any other parrot in the world; its distribution is restricted to the South Island. It is now known that it obtains much of its food (leaves, buds, and fruits, together with insects) in the forests covering mountain valleys. It ranges widely along the alpine grassland and subalpine scrub for the fruits abundant in autumn; however, it is conspicuous at all times of the year and cannot be missed by the visitor.

The high-mountain birds include the pipit, which reaches the highest levels, and one of the primitive New Zealand wrens, the rock wren (Xenicus gilviventris). The habitat of the rock wren includes screes, moraines, and rock falls containing patches of scrub and alpine vegetation, while it freely enters the adjacent subalpine scrub. Various introduced birds also reach the subalpine and alpine zones, notably the redpoll.

The takahe (Notornis) may be included amongst alpine bird life because of its limited distribution in a comparatively small portion of the Fiordland mountains: according to the evidence of subfossil bones, it once had a wider distribution. The rediscovery of this flightless gallinule in 1948 led to an intensive investigation of the existing population which occupies an area of mountain forest, tussock, and subalpine scrub lying to the west of Lake Te Anau.

The kakapo (Strigops) appears originally to have been mainly a bird of the mountains, and to have wandered from the forest to the alpine meadows above. This now extremely rare flightless parrot is one of New Zealand's most notable birds. Although its wings are powerless in flight it can glide from a height to the ground. Its food consists of mosses and other vegetation obtained in the forest, and the leaves and fruits of alpine plants.

In the more mountainous South Island, river flats and foothills provide breeding grounds for waders and inland gulls and terns, included in a later section. Two familiar waders in the inland South Island in spring and summer are the South Island pied oystercatcher and banded dotterel. In several districts the black-backed gull breeds inland at considerable altitudes; this species has a wide range in the mountains.

Introduced Birds

Mainly during the period 1860–80 numerous attempts were made to introduce overseas birds from Europe, North America, and Australia. Of these, 25 species became permanently established. In the main they are birds of the parks, gardens, orchards, and of pastoral land with its hedgerows and plantations: they are tree-inhabiting birds. In the present-day landscape these introduced birds are a familiar and well established element, in association with certain of the originally forest-inhabiting native birds. The following are almost universally distributed, their origin being in the British Isles or Europe: song thrush (Turdus musicus), blackbird (Turdus merula), hedge sparrow (Prunella modularis), greenfinch (Chloris chloris), goldfinch (Carduelis carduelis), redpoll (Carduelis flammea), chaffinch (Fringilla coelebs), yellow hammer (Emberiza citrinella), house sparrow (Passer domesticus), starling (Sturnus vulgaris), rook (Corvus frugilegus) (some districts), and (only in the South Island) little owl (Athene noctua). The Australian white-backed and black-backed magpies (Gymnorhina hypoleuca and G. tibicen) are also familiar; as is the Indian myna (Acridotheres tristis) in much of the North Island. The skylark (Alauda arvenis) is everywhere a common farm-land and open-country bird (it extends to the highest mountains). The game birds, of varying origin, include the pheasant (Phasianus colchicus), Californian quail (Lophortyx californica), Himalayan chukor (Alectoris graeca) (South Island districts), and Australian brown quail (Synoicus ypsilophorus) (northern North Island).

It is perhaps remarkable that, apart from the game birds, the importations were largely based on sentiment, and only in a few instances were birds brought with a view to their utility to agriculture. While there may be limited competition between native and introduced species (e.g., for nest holes between kingfisher and starling), the blend of the few widely distributed natives with these introduced birds has probably developed into a stable bird fauna. There is not likely to be further penetration by introduced birds into the remaining extensive tracts of native forest: three of the introduced species (blackbird, song thrush and chaffinch) have spread into this habitat; and the hedge sparrow is an inhabitant of the forest edge.

Lakes, Rivers, and Swamps

Here the area of habitat has been greatly reduced by swamp draining. Of the native ducks, the brown duck (Anas chlorotis) and New Zealand scaup (or black teal) (Aythya novaeseelandiae) were the most affected by the coming of settlement and, even with full protection, are only slowly recovering; the brown duck especially is now a rare species. The widely distributed native grey duck (Anas superciliosa) has to meet in some districts the increasing competition of the introduced mallard (Anas platyrhynchos); an associated species on most inland waters is the handsome shoveler (Anas rhynchotis), while the grey teal (Anas gibberfrons) is at present expanding. Two larger species, both introduced, are well established: the Canada goose (Branta canadensis) breeding in the South Island, and a straggler to the North Island, and the abundant black swan (Cygnus atratus).

The most striking of the waterfowl, the paradise duck (Tadorna variegata), is now an inhabitant of upland river valleys and lakes, but originally occurred on all inland waters: metallic blacks and browns characterise the male, while the female has a chestnut brown body and conspicuous white head. Another species of note is the blue duck (Hymenolaimus malacorhynchus), adapted to feed in the swifter streams and mountain torrents.

Swamp and lake-edge birds include the rare white heron (Egretta alba), white-faced heron (Notophoyx novaehollandiae) (a newly established Australian species), bittern (Botaurus poiciloptilus), and pukeko (Porphyrio melanotus).

The two species of grebe, the dabchick (Podiceps rufopectus) and crested grebe (Podiceps cristatus), are rarely seen, the latter being restricted to the South Island. Shags of inland waters are the little shag (Phalacrocorax melanoleucos), black shag (Phalacrocorax carbo), and the rare and local little black shag (Phalacrocorax sulcirostris).

Waders and Other Migrants

Migratory birds fall into several categories, the best known being birds breeding in the Siberian and North American Arctic, mainly members of the order of birds commonly known as waders. The principal Northern Hemisphere migrants spending the summer in New Zealand are the bar-tailed godwit (Limosa lapponica), knot (Calidris canutus), turnstone (Arenaria interpres), and Pacific golden plover (Charadrius dominicus). In addition there are a certain number of rarer species and stragglers. The feeding grounds of these migrants, in the summer months from approximately September to March, are the extensive tidal mudflats of harbours and estuaries and shallow margins of brackish lagoons. An interesting feature of the annual migration is that a certain number, probably comprising mainly immature birds, remain to spend the winter in New Zealand; however, these form only a small portion of the birds that yearly make the trans equatorial migration.

The Arctic skua, mentioned under “Sea Birds”, also reaches New Zealand as a migrant from the Northern Hemisphere.

There is a notable trans equatorial migration that forms a second category, as this is performed by species breeding in the New Zealand area. These birds are the three larger species of shearwater: the sooty shearwater or New Zealand muttonbird (Puffinus griseus), flesh-footed shearwater (Puffinus carneipes), and Buller's shearwater (Puffinus bulleri). These are largely absent from the seas surrounding New Zealand between the termination of breeding in May to October; their migration takes them to the north and east Pacific.

The only other group of overseas migrants comprises the two species of cuckoo already mentioned, which depart at the end of the summer for islands of the tropical Pacific. Migrants across the Tasman Sea to Australia are described below.

Local migration is well developed, once again mainly amongst the waders – the South Island pied oystercatcher (Haematopus ostralegus finschi), banded dotterel (Charadrius bicinctus), wrybill (Anarhynchus frontalis), and pied stilt (Himantopus himantopus). The most pronounced migration is that of the unique wrybill, the only species in the world with a bent bill; it breeds only on the open beds of eastern South Island rivers, migrating to the tidal harbours of the Auckland area. The remaining species mentioned have only a partial northwards migration, numbers spending the winter in southern districts; further, an additional migration in an east-west direction is performed by a proportion of the population of banded dotterels which cross the Tasman Sea annually to Australia in considerable numbers. By means of banding, local and trans-Tasman migrations are now being investigated by the Ornithological Society of New Zealand.

Of waterfowl, the grey duck is probably a local migrant and is known to travel to Australia and the Chatham Islands. The white-fronted tern is a partial migrant to eastern Australia; and there is a local migration, also partial, of black-fronted terns to the southern and central North Island. It has been shown recently by systematic banding that young gannets from the New Zealand colonies nearly all migrate to Australian waters.

Sea Birds

Familiar coastal birds are the black-backed gull (Larus dominicanus) and red-billed gull (Larus novaehollandiae), while in the South Island the black-billed gull (Larus bulleri), although an inland breeder, comes to coastal areas in considerable numbers. Of terns, the white-fronted tern (Sterna striata) is the common coastal species, but the larger, red-billed Caspian tern (Hydroprogne caspia) also has an extensive distribution; a third species, the black-fronted tern (Chlidonias albostriatus) is, like the black-billed gull, an inland species in the breeding season.

The Arctic skua (Stercorarius parasiticus), a regular summer visitor, may be seen offshore harrying white-fronted terns as they carry fish to the nesting colony.

In addition to the black shag and little shag, the pied shag (Phalacrocorax varius) is widely distributed in harbours and estuaries. The common coastal heron is the reef heron (Egretta sacra), although in recent years it has tended to be outnumbered by the Australian white-faced heron.

The gannet (Sula serrator) and spotted shag (Phalacrocorax punctatus) breed in colonies, the gannet on a plateau like that of Cape Kidnappers (q. v.), or a gentle slope, and the spotted shag on the precarious foothold of the small ledges on precipitous cliffs.

One species of penguin, although absent from the sub-Antarctic islands, is universally distributed on the mainland coast, and extends to the Chatham Islands: this is the small blue penguin (Eudyptula minor), a sedentary species, remaining close to the coast all through the year and returning to the nesting burrows each night. There are northern and southern subspecies within the region, and a third distinctive subspecies (the white-flippered penguin) on Banks Peninsula.

Large massed colonies of various crested penguins (Eudyptes) are formed on the Snares, Campbell, Antipodes, and Bounty Islands. In contrast, the yellow-eyed penguin (Megadyptes antipodes) and Fiordland crested penguin (Eudyptes pachyrhynchus pachyrhynchus) nest singly or in small groups in the cover provided by caves or crevices between rocks. These are amongst the various sea birds of sub-Antarctic affinities breeding in southern New Zealand, the range of the yellow-eyed penguin including southeastern Otago and Stewart Island, as well as the Auckland and Campbell Islands, and the Fiordland crested penguin ranging from South Westland to Stewart Island.

The petrels include, amongst numerous smaller forms, the diving petrels, storm petrels, shearwaters and whalebirds (or prions); also in this Order are the majestic albatrosses and mollymawks. The smaller petrels almost all breed in burrows and they return regularly at night to the breeding colonies situated mainly on secluded islands. The New Zealand sub-Antarctic is inhabited by a wide range of species, some exclusively sub-Antarctic, while others are extensively distributed in the New Zealand region. Other species again are limited in range to the warmer northern waters. The great albatrosses – wandering albatross (Diomedea exulans) and royal albatross (q.v.) (Diomedea epomophora) – are characteristic of the sub-Antarctic, the nest being a hollow mound on the tussock-clothed slopes of remote sub-Antarctic islands. Campbell Island is the main centre for the larger southern race of the royal albatross, while the northern race breeds on islands of the Chathams group; there is a small mainland colony of the latter race at Taiaroa Head, Otago Peninsula, where a few pairs nest each year. The slightly smaller albatrosses, commonly known as mollymawks, differ in having closely packed nesting colonies like those of the crested penguins. Each group of sub-Antarctic islands, including the Chathams, has one or more breeding species.

Also familiar on all the New Zealand sub-Antarctic islands is a group of shags – the “blue-eyed shags” – represented by a number of forms in the New Zealand region. This group is restricted to the sub-Antarctic round the Southern Ocean. Two members of the group occur on the coast of the mainland: the Stewart Island shag (Phalacrocorax chalconotus) in the south of the region from Stewart Island to Otago Harbour, and the king shag (Phalacrocorax carunculatus) in Cook Strait.

The spectacular, noisy colonies of sub-Antarctic birds – petrels, penguins, or shags – serve as food for the southern skua (Catharacta lonnbergi). This gull-like bird of predatory habits feeds largely on small petrels, which are killed at night as they arrive at the burrows, and on eggs or young obtained on the colonies. It is found on islands surrounding Stewart Island, and from the Chatham Islands to the southern sub-Antarctic.

by Evan Graham Turbott, M.SC., Director, Auckland Institute and Museum.

• A History of New Zealand Birds, Buller, W. L. (1873, 1888)
• supplement (1905)
• Checklist of New Zealand Birds, Ornithological Society of New Zealand Checklist Committee, Fleming, C. A., convenor (1953)
• New Zealand Birds, Oliver W. R. B. (1955)
• Field Guide to the Birds of New Zealand, Gibson, R. B., Falla, R. A., and Turbott, E. G. (1964)
• The Life History of New Zealand Birds, Stead, Edgar F. (1932).