Birds of New Zealand: 7 (Princeton Pocket Guides)

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Conservation status:Not threatened. Credit: Territorial song, Spencerville Plantation eastern Christchurch, September 1971, 1035, Les McPherson, McPherson Natural History Unit Sound Archive.

Māoritradition says that hearing the song of the riroriro is an indication to begin planting in spring. Baker, Allan J.; Huynen, Leon J.; Haddrath, Oliver; Millar, Craig D.; Lambert, David M. (7 June 2005). "Reconstructing the tempo and mode of evolution in an extinct clade of birds with ancient DNA: The giant moas of New Zealand". Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America. 102 (23): 8257–8262. Bibcode: 2005PNAS..102.8257B. doi: 10.1073/pnas.0409435102. ISSN 0027-8424. PMC 1149408. PMID 15928096. The owlet-nightjars are a distinctive group of small nocturnal birds related to swifts found from the Maluku Islands and New Guinea to Australia and New Caledonia. There are four sub-species of weka found across New Zealand: from the North Island weka which can be found on Russell Peninsula and by Hauraki Gulf, the western weka in the South Island, the buff weka on Chatham and Pitt islands, and finally the Stewart Island weka.The honeyeaters are a large and diverse family, Meliphagidae, of small to medium-sized birds. The family includes the Australian chats, myzomelas, friarbirds, wattlebirds, miners and melidectes. They are most common in Australia and New Guinea, but also found in New Zealand, the Pacific islands as far east as Samoa and Tonga, and the islands to the north and west of New Guinea known as Wallacea.

The mix includes species with unusual biology such as the kākāpō which is the world's only flightless, nocturnal parrot which also exhibits competitive display breeding using leks. The brown-plumaged weka (not to be confused with our native insect species called wētā) is another one of Aotearoa’s iconic flightless birds.Rallidae is a large family of small to medium-sized birds which includes the rails, crakes, coots and gallinules. The most typical family members occupy dense vegetation in damp environments near lakes, swamps or rivers. In general they are shy and secretive birds, making them difficult to observe. Most species have strong legs and long toes which are well adapted to soft uneven surfaces. They tend to have short, rounded wings and to be weak fliers. Heather, Barrie; Robertson, Hugh (2015). The Field Guide to the Birds of New Zealand (rev. & updated 4thed.). New Zealand: Penguin. ISBN 0143570927. Wellington Zoo: You’ll find around 100 species of animals from four different continents in New Zealand’s first zoo, which was founded in 1906. New Zealand sea lions are another of the rarest species on the planet, and their population is around 10,000, mainly confined to the Otago and Southland regions and the sub-antarctic islands. Otherwise known as the korimako, these birds have gorgeous, light green coats and are known for having an extreme taste for nectar.