Bird Species Found in New Zealand
New Zealand is an island in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses (the North Island and the South Island), as well as numerous smaller islands, most notably Stewart Island / Rakiura and the Chatham Islands. New Zealand is situated about 1,250 miles or 2000 km southeast of Australia across the Tasman Sea. Its closest neighbors to the north are New Caledonia, Fiji and Tonga.
The Realm of New Zealand also includes the Cook Islands and Niue; Tokelau; and the Ross Dependency.
New Zealand has a distinctive fauna dominated by birds - a number of which became extinct after the arrival of humans and the mammals they introduced. Its diverse range of megafauna includes our species of kiwi, the kakapo and the takahē, all highly to critically endangered. Unique birds capable of flight included the Haast's eagle, which was the world's largest bird of prey (now extinct), and the large kākā and kea parrots.
Birds found in New Zealand
Auckland Islands Teal (A. a. aucklandica) - Range: Auckland Islands off New Zealand
Auckland Shag (Phalacrocorax colensoi)
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Australasian Bittern (Botaurus poiciloptilus) aka Brown Bittern - Range: South-western and south-eastern Australia, Tasmania, New Zealand, New Caledonia and Ouvea
Australasian Gannet (Morus serrator) - Range: Southern Australia and New Zealand
Australasian Grebe (Tachybaptus novaehollandiae) - Range: Greater Australia, New Zealand and on nearby Pacific islands
Australasian Pipit (Anthus novaeseelandiae) - Range: Australia, New Zealand and New Guinea
Australian Magpie (Gymnorhina tibicen) - Range: Australia, introduced into New Zealand
Australian Pelican (Pelicanus conspicillatus) aka Goolayyalibee - Range: Australia, New Guinea, Fiji, parts of Indonesia, vagrant to New Zealand
Bar-tailed Godwit / shorebird (Limosa lapponica) - Range: Breeding in arctic Asia and western Alaska. Migrate to coastal western Europe, Africa, South Asia, Australia and New Zealand
Blackbird or Common Blackbird (Turdus merula) - Range: Europe. Introduced to many parts of the world, including Australia and New Zealand
Black-fronted Dotterel / Plover (Elseyornis melanops) - Range: Common throughout most of Australia. Self-introduced in New Zealand
Black Swan (Cygnus atratus) - Range: Australia, Tasmania and recently reintroduced in New Zealand
Black Stilt or Kakī (Māori) (Himantopus novaezelandiae) - Range: One of the most threatened shorebirds in the world. The current population is estimated at 22 adult birds. There is a captive population of some 25 adults, annual release in the wild of captive-bred birds and predator control has probably prevented it from becoming extinct in the wild. During the breeding season it is restricted to the upper Waitaki Valley, South Island, New Zealand. Small numbers overwinter in the North Island.
Black Teal aka New Zealand Scaup (Aythya novaeseelandiae) - Range: New Zealand
Blue Duck (Hymenolaimus malacorhynchus) - Range: New Zealand
Blue-eyed Shags - Range: Southern South America and near New Zealand
Bounty Shag (Phalacrocorax ranfurlyi) - Range: New Zealand
Brolga Cranes (Grus rubicunda) - Range: North and north-east Australia, especially north-east Queensland, and are common as far south as Victoria. They are also found in southern New Guinea and as rare vagrants in New Zealand and the northern part of Western Australia
Brown Creeper (Mohoua novaeseelandiae) aka Pipipi - Range: South Island of New Zealand
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Brown Quail aka Swamp Quail (Coturnix ypsilophora) - Range: New Guinea and the Lesser Sunda Islands as well as in northern, eastern, south-eastern and south-western Australia and Tasmania. Introduced to Fiji and New Zealand
California Quail (Callipepla californica) aka California Valley Quail or Valley Quail - Range: Southwestern United States. Introduced into British Columbia, Hawaii, Chile, New Zealand, and to Norfolk Island and King Island in Australia.
Campbell Island Teal (Anas nesiotis) - Range: Campbell Island group off New Zealand
Campbell Shag (Phalacrocorax campbelli) - Range: New Zealand
Canada Geese - Introduced as a game bird into New Zealand
Cape Barren Goose (Cereopsis novaehollandiae) - Range: Southern Australia, including Kangaroo Island and New Zealand
Caspian Tern (Hydroprogne caspia formerly Sterna caspia) - Range: North America including the Great Lakes and locally across much of Europe, Asia, Africa, Australia and New Zealand
Chaffinches (Fringilla coelebs) - Range: New Zealand
Channel-billed Cuckoo (Scythrops novaehollandiae) - Range: Australia, Papua New Guinea and Indonesia; additionally, it is vagrant in New Caledonia and New Zealand
Chatham Island Oystercatcher (Haematopus chathamensis) - Range: Chatham Islands, New Zealand.
Chatham Islands Raven (C. moriorum) (prehistoric)
Chatham Island Snipe (Coenocorypha pusilla) - Endemic to the Chatham Islands of New Zealand.
Chukar (Alectoris chukar) - Range: Asia from Pakistan and Afghanistan in the east to southeastern Europe in the west. Introduced into the United States, Canada, Great Britain, New Zealand and Hawaii
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Common Myna or Indian or Talking Myna (Acridotheres tristis) - Range: Tropical southern Asia from Afghanistan to India and Sri Lanka. Self-introduced in South Africa, Israel, Hawaii, North America (especially in southern Florida area), Australia and New Zealand
Crimson Rosella (Platycercus elegans) - Range: East and south east Australia. Introduced to New Zealand and Norfolk Island
Double-banded Plover (Charadrius bicinctus) aka the Banded Dotterel - Range: New Zealand
Eastern Reef Egret (Egretta sacra) - Range: Asia including the oceanic region of India, Southeast Asia, Japan, Polynesia, and in Australia, Tasmania and New Zealand
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Eastern Rosella (Platycercus eximius) - Range: Southeast Australia and Tasmania. It has also been introduced to New Zealand
Eyles' Harrier (Circus eylesi) Range: Formerly New Zealand now extinct
Erect-crested Penguins (Eudyptes sclateri)- Range: Australia; New Zealand; and Bounty, Campbell and Auckland Islands
European Starling or Common Starling (Sturnus vulgaris) - Range: Eurasia, but has been introduced to South Africa, North America, Australia and New Zealand
Fan-tailed Cuckoos (Cacomantis flabelliformis) - Range: Australia, Fiji, Indonesia, New Caledonia, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands, and Vanuatu
Far Eastern Curlew or Eastern Curlew (Numenius madagascariensis) - Range: Breeding territory is northeastern Asia, including Siberia to Kamchatka, and Mongolia. Most winter in coastal Australia, with a few heading to South Korea, Thailand, and New Zealand
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Fernbird (Bowdleria punctata) - Range: New Zealand
Fiordland Crested Penguin (Eudyptes pachyrhynchus) - Range: New Zealand - along the Fiordland coast and its outlying islands as well as on Stewart Island/Rakiura
Gannets / Northern Gannets - Range: North Atlantic. The other two species occur in the temperate seas around southern Africa and southern Australia and New Zealand
Great Cormorant (Phalacrocorax carbo), known as the Great Black Cormorant across the Northern Hemisphere, the Black Cormorant in Australia and the Black Shag further south in New Zealand - Range: Old World and the Atlantic coast of North America
Great Egret (Casmerodius albus), also known as the Great White Egret, White Heron, or Common Egret - Range: Southern Europe and Asia. It is called Kotuku in New Zealand
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Grey Fantail (Rhipidura fuliginosa) - Range: Common in all parts of Australia except western desert areas. Also found in New Zealand (where it is also known by its Maori name, Piwakawaka or Tiwakawaka), New Guinea, the Solomon Islands, Vanuatu and New Caledonia
Grey Plover (Pluvialis squatarola), known as the Black-bellied Plover in North America - Range: Arctic islands and coastal areas across the northern coasts of Alaska, Canada, and Russia. Migrate to winter in coastal areas nearly throughout the world. In the New World they winter from southwest British Columbia and Massachusetts south to Argentina and Chile, in the western Old World from Britain and southwestern Norway south throughout coastal Africa to South Africa, and in the eastern Old World, from southern Japan south throughout coastal southern Asia and Australia, with a few reaching New Zealand. It makes regular non-stop transcontinental flights over Asia, Europe, and North America
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Grey Teal (Anas gracilis) - Range: Australia and New Zealand
Hoary-headed Grebe (Poliocephalus poliocephalus) - Range: Australia and, since 1975, New Zealand, where it is scarce
Honeyeaters - Range: Australia, New Guinea, but also found in New Zealand, the Pacific islands as far east as Hawaii, and the islands to the north and west of New Guinea known as Wallacea. Bali, on the other side of the Wallace Line, has a single species
Horsfield's Cuckoo or Oriental Cuckoos (Cuculus optatus) - Range: Malay Peninsula, Indonesia, the Philippines, New Guinea, western Micronesia, the Solomon Islands and northern and eastern Australia with occasional birds reaching New Zealand. It has occurred as a vagrant in Ukraine, Israel and Alaska
Kaka / Kākā aka New Zealand Kaka or Nestor Parrots (Nestor meridionalis) - Range: Native to the forests of New Zealand
Kakapo (Strigops habroptilus) - Range: New Zealand. Highly endangered
Kakarikis or New Zealand parakeets (Cyanoramphus, family Psittacidae) ... The three species on mainland New Zealand are the Yellow-crowned Parakeet Cyanoramphus auriceps, the Orange-fronted Parakeet C. malherbi and the Red-crowned Parakeet or Red-fronted Parakeet, C. novaezelandiae.
Karearea or New Zealand Falcon (Falco novaeseelandiae)
Kea (Nestor notabilis) - Range: Mountains of South Island of New Zealand from Fiordland north to Nelson and Marlborough Provinces
Kererū or New Zealand Pigeon (Hemiphaga novaeseelandiae novaseelandiae) - Range: New Zealand
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King Shag aka New Zealand King Shag or Rough-faced Shag (Phalacrocorax carunculatus) - Range: New Zealand
Kiwi - Range: This flightless bird is endemic to New Zealand.
Latham's Snipe (Gallinago hardwickii) aka Japanese Snipe - Range: Hokkaidō in northern Japan, with smaller numbers on Honshū, the eastern Russian mainland and, historically, Sakhalin and the Kurile Islands. Winters in eastern Australia, where it is the commonest Gallinago snipe. Recorded on migration in Taiwan, the Philippines and New Guinea, and is a rare straggler to New Zealand
Laughing Kookaburra (Dacelo novaeguineae) - Range: Eastern Australia, and has been introduced into the south-west corner of Western Australia, Tasmania, Flinders Island, Kangaroo Island. Also introduced into New Zealand between 1866 and 1880, but only those liberated on Kawau Island by Sir George Grey survived
Laughing Owl (Sceloglaux albifacies) aka Whekau or White-faced Owl - Range: Formerly New Zealand - now extinct
Little Black Cormorant (Phalacrocorax sulcirostris) - Range: Australia and northern New Zealand
Little Blue Penguin (Eudyptula minor) - Range: Coastline of New Zealand, the Chatham Islands, Tasmania, and southern Australia
Little Penguin (Eudyptula minor) - Range: Coastline of New Zealand, the Chatham Islands, Kangaroo Island, Tasmania, and southern Australia
Little Pied Cormorant, Little Shag or Kawaupaka (Phalacrocorax melanoleucos) - Range: Coasts, islands, estuaries, and inland waters of Australia, New Guinea, New Zealand, Malaysia, and Indonesia, and around the islands of the south-western Pacific and the sub-Antarctic
Long-tailed Cuckoo (Eudynamys taitensis), also known as the Long-tailed Koel or the Koekoeā - Range: New Zealand, and migrates to the islands of the western Pacific in the winter.
Mallard (Anas platyrhynchos) - Range: Sub-tropical areas of North America, Europe and Asia. Frequents Central America and the Caribbean. Introduced into Australia and New Zealand
Mynas (Sturnidae) - Range: Eastern Asia, although several species have been introduced to North America and New Zealand
Nankeen Kestrel (Falco cenchroides) - Range: Australia, New Guinea, and nearby islands, and is an irregular visitor to New Zealand
New Zealand Bellbird (Anthoris melanura) - Range: New Zealand
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New Zealand Coot (Fulica prisca) (prehistoric)
New Zealand Dabchick (Poliocephalus rufopectus, or Weweia) - Range: New Zealand
New Zealand Dotterel or Red-breasted Plover (Charadrius obscurus) - Range: New Zealand
New Zealand Falcon (Falco novaeseelandiae)
New Zealand King Shag aka Rough-faced Shag (Phalacrocorax carunculatus)
New Zealand Little Bittern (Ixobrychus novaezelandiae) - Extinct
New Zealand Raven (C. antipodum) (prehistoric)
New Zealand Robin or Toutouwai (Māori), (Petroica australis) - Range: South Island and Stewart Island, New Zealand
New Zealand Scaup (Aythya novaeseelandiae)
New Zealand Snipes (Coenocorypha) - Range: Outlying Islands of New Zealand
New Zealand Swan (Cygnus atratus sumnerensis) - Range: Chatham Islands and the South Island of New Zealand
North Island Takahē or mōho (Porphyrio mantelli) - Range: An extinct rail that was found in the North Island of New Zealand
Oriental Plover (Charadrius veredus) aka Oriental Dotterel - Range: Mongolia, eastern Russia and Manchuria; migrates through eastern China and South-East Asia to Indonesia and Australia. Rare in New Guinea; straggler to New Zealand
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Pacific Black Duck aka Grey Duck or Parera (Anas superciliosa) - Range: Indonesia, New Guinea, Australia, New Zealand, and many islands in the southwestern Pacific, reaching to the Caroline Islands in the north and French Polynesia in the east
Pallid Cuckoo (Cuculus pallidus) - Range: Found throughout Australia, Christmas Island, Indonesia, New Zealand, and Papua New Guinea
Paradise Shelduck (Tadorna variegata) - Range: New Zealand
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Pectoral Sandpiper (Calidris or Erolia melanotos) - Range: North America and Northeast Asia. May winter in South America or Australia and New Zealand respectively
Pied Cormorant aka Pied Shag or Karuhiruhi (Phalacrocorax varius) - Range: Around the coasts of Australasia
Pied Oystercatcher (Haematopus longirostris) - Range: Australia and New Zealand
Pitt Cormorant or Featherstone's Shag (Phalacrocorax featherstoni) - Range: New Zealand
Purple Swamphen (Porphyrio porphyrio), also known as the Purple Gallinule - Range: New Zealand, where it is called the Pūkeko
Red-billed Gull (Larus scopulinus) - Range: New Zealand and outlying islands including the Chatham Islands and Sub-antarctic islands
Red-capped Plover (Charadrius ruficapillus) aka Red-capped Dotterel - Range: Widespread in Australia; straggler to New Zealand
Red-kneed Dotterel (Erythrogonys cinctus) - Range: Southern New Guinea and mainland Australia; vagrant to Tasmania and New Zealand
Red-tailed Tropicbird (Phaethon rubricauda) - Range: Hawaiian Islands to Easter Island and across to Mauritius. They disperse widely after breeding. They range from the Red Sea to New Zealand and Chile
Red-vented Bulbul (Pycnonotus cafer) - Range: Tropical southern Asia from India and Sri Lanka east to Burma and southwestern China. Self-introduced in the wild in many Pacific islands including Fiji, Samoa, Tonga, and Hawaii. Established itself in parts of Dubai, the United Arab Emirates and New Zealand.
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Rock Partridge (Alectoris graeca) - Range: Southwestern Asia and southeastern Europe. Introduced into New Zealand.
Rook (Corvus frugilegus) / Crow Family - Range: Great Britain and much of north and central Europe, vagrant to Iceland and northern Scandinavia, Introduced to New Zealand
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Royal Penguins (Eudyptes schlegeli) - Range: Macquarie and Campbell Islands; also around the New Zealand coast
Royal Spoonbill (Platalea regia) - Range: South-east Australia, New Zealand, particularly the South Island, and sometimes as stragglers in New Guinea, Indonesia, and the Pacific Islands. Its food is aquatic life, and it nests in trees, marshes or reed-beds.
Shining Bronze-Cuckoo (Chrysococcyx lucidus / Chalcites lucidus) - Range: Australia, Indonesia, New Caledonia, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands, and Vanuatu
Shore Plover or Tuturuatu (Thinornis novaeseelandiae) - Range: South Island in New Zealand but became extinct there. Survived on one island, Rangatira, in the Chatham Islands, from where it has been introduced to other offshore islands in the Chathams (Mangere Island) and near the North Island
Snares Penguin (Eudyptes robustus) aka Snares Crested Penguin and the Snares Islands Penguin - Range: The Snares, a group of islands off the southern coast of the South Island
Southern Boobook / Owl (Ninox novaeseelandiae), also called the mopoke - Range: New Zealand and the more temperate parts of Australia
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Spotless Crake (Porzana tabuensis) - Found in American Samoa, Australia, the Cook Islands, Fiji, French Polynesia, Indonesia, Micronesia, New Zealand, Niue, Papua New Guinea, the Philippines, Pitcairn, Samoa, Solomon Islands and Tonga.
Spotted Dove (Streptopelia chinensis) - Range: Tropical southern Asia from India and Sri Lanka east to south China and Southeast Asia. Introduced to the U.S., northern Indonesia, Australia and New Zealand
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Spotted Shag - Range: New Zealand
Spur-winged Plover aka Masked Lapwing (Vanellus miles novaehollandiae) - Range: Native to Australia, particularly the northern and eastern parts of the continent. Self introduced to Southland, New Zealand
Stewart Island Shag (Phalacrocorax chalconotus) aka Bronzed Shag or Stewart Shag - Range: Southernmost parts of the South Island of New Zealand, from the Otago Peninsula south to the Foveaux Strait, and to Stewart Island
Stitchbird or Hihi (Notiomystis cincta) - Range: New Zealand - became extinct on the mainland and survives only on offshore refuges, though a small population was established in Karori Wildlife Sanctuary (near Wellington)
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Swamp Harrier (C. approximans) - Range: Australasia, particularly in the higher rainfall areas to the east, south-east, and south-west, of Australia and throughout New Zealand, but also in the tropical north of Australia, and the island groups to the east of the Coral Sea, New Caledonia and Vanuatu
Takahē or South Island Takahē ( Porphyrio hochstetteri) / flightless rail - Range: New Zealand
Tui (Prosthemadera novaeseelandiae) - Range: New Zealand
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Weka Rail - Range: New Zealand
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White-faced Heron (Egretta novaehollandiae, formerly Ardea novaehollandiae) - Range: Australasia, including New Guinea, the islands of Torres Strait, Indonesia, New Zealand, the islands of the sub-Antarctic, and all but the driest areas of Australia.
White-flippered Penguins (Eudyptula albosignata albosignata) - Range: Banks Peninsula and Motunau Island, near Canterbury, New Zealand
Wrybill or Ngutuparore (Anarhynchus frontalis) - Range: New Zealand
Yellow-billed Spoonbill (Platalea flavipes): - Range: Australia, vagrant to New Zealand, Lord Howe Island and Norfolk Island
Yellow-eyed Penguins (Megadyptes antipodes) - Range: Southeast New Zealand
Yellowhammer (Emberiza citrinella) - Range: Europe and much of Asia. Introduced to New Zealand
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