Our remarkable birds

North Island saddleback female, close
up of head, Whatupuke Island

Wings but can't fly?!?

There are many reasons why the birdlife of New Zealand is remarkable and special, and even subject to lots of attention from the rest of the world.  A lot of it has to do with the lack of that power that makes a bird a bird – the ability to fly!

Flying uses a lot of energy, but most birds do it, and it increases the types of food they can eat, as well as enabling them to access insects and fruit at the tops of trees. It also helps them to escape from predators, and this is the key to why so many birds in NZ evolved to either lose the ability to fly, or not do it very well. With no mammals present in NZ able to eat a bird or an egg, and plenty of good food on or near the ground; many species gradually lost the power of flight.  

Our rarest birds

Flightlessness is only one characteristic contributing to the uniqueness of our bird fauna. Many NZ birds are also very long-lived, and have slow breeding rates, as well as small clutch sizes and large eggs. Several species are nocturnal, and others have a large body size. All these features have contributed to their extinction or decline.
 
Moa, adzebills, giant eagle and tiny wrens are all gone forever. Extinction rates for birds in New Zealand are high - 34% of endemic land and freshwater birds and 5% of sea birds. Birds that had evolved to live on the ground had no defences against the ravages of predators, nor habitat loss. Even now, 37% of our bird species are considered threatened. The most recent extinction was the huia in 1907; the takahē was thought to be extinct until small numbers were rediscovered in the Murchison Mountains of Fiordland in 1948; and the kāki/black stilt, with around 100 adults remaining, is on the edge.

Chatham Island snipe and pigeon, black robin, and fairy tern are in the top 10 list of NZ's rarest birds - no population exceeds 150 individuals.  The key significance is the high number of endemic species in NZ.  Endemic means that they breed nowhere else in the world, only in NZ, therefore if they are at risk, they are gone forever. 

Helping hand

Department of Conservation staff are involved in intensive and complex work: to intervene with different species to ensure their survival. Birds like hihi/stitchbird are transferred to various offshore islands to build up new populations in predator-free habitats; others like the kakī/black stilt and takahē are reared in captivity and then released into managed environments. 

Department staff are involved in on-site breeding and manipulation programmes for many species, like pateke and kākāpō; and there is a huge effort associated with eradication of predators in many areas to protect many species, such as kokako, mohua and kiwi.

The Department's hard work is reaping rewards. Some species are still only just managing to hold their own, but others have thrived. For example, since saddlebacks have been successfully relocated to nine different islands their numbers have increased tenfold, to 5000.

Case study - the kākāpō story

The flightless, nocturnal kākāpō, heavyweight of the parrots, remains one of the most endangered birds in the world despite years of intensive management.  Remote, forest-covered, offshore islands provide the only safe refuges from cats, stoats, rats and habitat loss - all enemies of kākāpō.

Efforts to reverse the decline of kākāpō began as early as the 1950s.  In 1995 – when just 51 birds were left – DOC’s National Kakapo Team was established to focus recovery efforts through a Recovery Plan.  By 2008, a 78% increase in the total population had occurred.
 
Many very dedicated people work hard to help kākāpō. For several months of the year, kakapo are given supplementary food. Trapping is undertaken to ensure the island refuges remain pest-free.
 
In the years when kākāpō breed, eggs are often artificially incubated and chicks may be hand-raised, which are both very labour-intensive processes. Research is undertaken to find new ideas and techniques that might ensure a better future for the species. Currently, genetic studies and avian nutrition are the main focuses of attention.

Kākāpō Recovery Team website

Bred in captivity

Attempts to save the kakī/black stilt - a wading bird inhabiting the braided rivers of inland Canterbury - from extinction began in the late 1970s. At first they were bred in captivity at the Pukaha Mt Bruce National Wildlife Centre; now over a hundred eggs a season are hatched at three aviaries in Twizel, and all the chicks are hand-reared.

Despite intensive trapping and electric fences to protect kakī from predators they are still unable to successfully nest and fledge chicks in the wild.  Captive breeding is thus a vital tool in the recovery of this species, as it is for a number of other birds, such as whio/blue duck, pateke, and shore plover.

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