Story: Introduced land birds

Dates of bird introductions

As this table suggests, many of New Zealand’s introduced birds first arrived in the 1860s and 1870s. This partly arose from the hope that the birds would deal with the insect pests, some of which arrived with imported plants, and some of which were native species that thrived on cultivated crops.

Using this item

Te Ara – The Encyclopedia of New Zealand

This item has been provided for private study purposes (such as school projects, family and local history research) and any published reproduction (print or electronic) may infringe copyright law. It is the responsibility of the user of any material to obtain clearance from the copyright holder.

Source: Barrie D. Heather and Hugh A, Robertson, The field guide to the birds of New Zealand. Auckland: Viking, 2000

All images & media in this story

How to cite this page:

Christina Troup, 'Introduced land birds - Introducing birds', Te Ara - the Encyclopedia of New Zealand, http://www.TeAra.govt.nz/en/interactive/17137/dates-of-bird-introductions (accessed 9 May 2024)

Story by Christina Troup, published 24 Nov 2008, reviewed & revised 17 Feb 2015