The Birds of Tiritiri Matangi

For over 120 years, from 1850 to the 1970s, Europeans cleared the natural habitats of the small New Zealand island of Tiritiri Matanga for extensive farming. This clearing drove numerous animal species from the island. Since the 1970s, the Hauraki Gulf Maritime Park Board has been reforming the island into a nature reserve and has been helping to bring back wildlife, including 70 species of birds.

  1. Endemic Birds

    • Endemic birds are species only found in a certain area. Tiritiri Matanga is home to 18 species found only on the island of New Zealand's mainland. The little spotted kiwi, for example, is likely extinct on the mainland, and only 50 or 60 live in the reserve. The kiwi, along with 10 other species, was brought to the island during the 1970s and 1980s. These other species included the brown teal, takahe, red-crowned parakeet, whitehead, North Island robin and the fernbird.

    Native Birds

    • Several of the island's birds are New Zealand natives but they do migrate or surface in other areas such as Australia and the Solomon Islands. Fantails are common on the island and the mainland, as well as in Australia. Other native species include the shining cuckoo, kingfisher, morepork, pipit, pukeko, silvereye and the spotless crake. All species are common in New Zealand and live on Tiritiri Matanga.

    Introduced Birds

    • The island is home to 17 species of bird introduced to the area from elsewhere. One such bird, the blackbird, is common throughout New Zealand and the island and is a native of Europe. The song thrush, skylark, house sparrow and goldfinch are also transplanted European species. Other species have either been transplanted or naturally spread to the island from southeast Asia and Australia. Some of these include the Australian magpie, spotted dove, eastern rosella and the common myna.

    Shore Birds

    • The beaches and shorelines of the island offer good habitat for 27 species of shorebirds. The white-faced heron, an Australian native, has found its way to the island. Other shore birds, such as the oyster catcher, reef heron and shore plover, feed on the islands beaches. Sea birds such as the Australian gannet, red-billed gull and little shag feed in the coastal waters around Tiritiri Matanga. Some Arctic birds--the Arctic skua, for example--also have made their way onto the island.