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Kereru, the New Zealand Pigeon

10,000 Birds

The New Zealand Pigeon , often known by its Maori name Kereru , or colloquially as woodpigeon, is a large and conspicuous part of New Zealand’s avifauna. As pigeons go it is very large, measuring up to 50 cm, and it is one of two species of pigeon endemic to New Zealand.

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Restless New Zealand Fantails

10,000 Birds

In his comment in last week’s post on the Marlborough Sounds , Beat writer Jochen described the New Zealand Fantail as one of the best birds in the world. wakawaka, the New Zealand Fantail is a delightful inhabitant of New Zealand, and one of my favourite local birds. Fantails don’t do necks.

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New Zealand Storm-petrels; Back from the Dead

10,000 Birds

New Zealand has had its share of rediscovered birds too. The most recent rediscovery represents one of the longer absences from our attention, however, that of the New Zealand Storm-petrel. A blurry photo of the New Zealand Storm-petrel ( Oceanites maorianus, or is it?),

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A Naturalist’s Guide to the Birds of New Zealand

10,000 Birds

Finally, not so long ago digital photography opened doors to a never before seen number of amateurs shooting at professional level, including one of New Zealand’s youngest nature photographers, Oscar Thomas. A Naturalist’s Guide to the Birds of New Zealand by Oscar Thomas is a photographic guide without a single poor photo.

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Acclimatisation Societies of New Zealand

10,000 Birds

New Zealand has a very odd biota these days. They took dogs to Australia, chickens across the Pacific, rabbits to England, horses to the New World, and then brought potatoes back. So that New Zealand would end up with quite a few species of animal not originally found here is hardly surprising of itself.

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Diving New Zealand – Goat Island

10,000 Birds

Goat Island, off New Zealand’s Northland, was an amazing diving location without any birds. Particular highlights were a massive Long-tailed Stingray , pipefish (long relatives of the sea horse), nudibranchs, goatfish and a New Zealand Eagle Ray. But that is actually by the by, because diving is its own reward.

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Swimming Stoats a Problem in New Zealand

10,000 Birds

New Zealand has turned many of its offshore islands into introduced-predator-free sanctuaries for native wildlife but Stoats , also known as Ermine or Short-Tailed Weasel , which were originally introduced to New Zealand to combat the introduced rabbit population, recently showed up on two different offshore islands, one of which was over five kilometers (..)