Fiordland tokoeka

Last updated

Fiordland tokoeka
Scientific classification OOjs UI icon edit-ltr.svg
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Aves
Infraclass: Palaeognathae
Order: Apterygiformes
Family: Apterygidae
Genus: Apteryx
Species:
Subspecies:
A. a. australis
Trinomial name
Apteryx australis australis
Shaw, 1813

The Fiordland tokoeka or Fiordland kiwi (Apteryx australis australis) is a subspecies of southern brown kiwi. It is endemic to New Zealand. Like other ratites, it is flightless. [1]

Contents

Morphology

The Fiordland tokoeka is among the largest of southern brown kiwis. It has red-brown feathers that resemble fur. Its wings are small and it has no tail. It has a long, curved bill. [1] The nostrils are at the end of the bill, not at the top near the rest of its face.

Habitat and diet

The Fiordland tokoeka lives in Fiordland and on nearby islands. Its range extends from the Milford Sound to Lake Te Anau to Preservation Inlet. [1]

The adult Fiordland tokoeka is solitary and territorial, fighting other adult kiwis over feeding grounds. It is nocturnal. [1] [2] [3]

Threats

There are about 15,000 Fiordland tokoeka alive. The number of Fiordland kiwis is decreasing because of habitat loss and because invasive species such as stoats, ferrets, dogs, and cats eat adults, chicks, and eggs. However, human beings have begun setting traps for stoats in parts of Fiordland, and the kiwi population has begun to recover. [1]

Breeding

The kiwis make a nest in a hollow log, crack in a rock, or space dug out of the ground. The egg is large and pale green in color. Both the male and female kiwi take turns incubating the egg. [1]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kiwi (bird)</span> Order of birds

Kiwi are flightless birds endemic to New Zealand of the order Apterygiformes. The five extant species fall into the family Apterygidae and genus Apteryx. Approximately the size of a domestic chicken, kiwi are the smallest ratites.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rakiura National Park</span> National park in New Zealand

Rakiura National Park is a nature reserve park located on Stewart Island / Rakiura, New Zealand. It is the newest national park of New Zealand and opened in 2002. The protected area covers about 85% of the island.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Weka</span> Species of bird

The weka, also known as the Māori hen or woodhen is a flightless bird species of the rail family. It is endemic to New Zealand. It is the only extant member of the genus Gallirallus. Four subspecies are recognized but only two (northern/southern) are supported by genetic evidence.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fiordland National Park</span> National park on South Island of New Zealand

Fiordland National Park occupies the southwest corner of the South Island of New Zealand. It is by far the largest of the 13 national parks in New Zealand, with an area of 12,607 square kilometres (4,868 sq mi), and a major part of the Te Wahipounamu World Heritage Site. The park is administered by the Department of Conservation.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fiordland penguin</span> Species of bird

The Fiordland penguin, also known as the Fiordlandcrested penguin, is a crested penguin species endemic to New Zealand. It currently breeds along the south-western coasts of New Zealand's South Island as well as on Stewart Island/Rakiura and its outlying islands. Because it originally ranged beyond Fiordland, it is sometimes referred to as the New Zealand crested penguin. It is occasionally found in Australia.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Takahē</span> Species of bird

The South Island takahē is a flightless swamphen indigenous to New Zealand and the largest living member of the rail family. It is often known by the abbreviated name takahē, which it shares with the recently extinct North Island takahē. The two takahē species are also known as notornis.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Flightless bird</span> Birds that cannot fly

Flightless birds are birds that, through evolution, lost the ability to fly. There are over 60 extant species, including the well-known ratites and penguins. The smallest flightless bird is the Inaccessible Island rail. The largest flightless bird, which is also the largest living bird in general, is the ostrich.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Resolution Island (New Zealand)</span> Island in New Zealands Fiordland region

Resolution Island or Tau Moana (Māori) is the largest island in the Fiordland region of southwest New Zealand, covering a total of 208 km2 (80 sq mi). It is the country's seventh largest island, and the second largest uninhabited island. Resolution Island is separated from the mainland of the South Island by Tamatea / Dusky Sound, Te Puaitaha / Breaksea Sound, and Acheron Passage. The island is part of the Fiordland National Park.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Brown teal</span> Species of bird

The brown teal is a species of dabbling duck of the genus Anas native to New Zealand. For many years it had been considered to be conspecific with the flightless Auckland and Campbell teals in Anas aucklandica; the name "brown teal" has also been largely applied to that entire taxon. Common in the early years of European colonisation, the "brown duck" was heavily harvested as a food source. Its numbers quickly fell, especially in the South Island, and in 1921 they became fully protected. Captive breeding and releasing into predator-controlled areas has seen good localised populations re-introduced around the country in recent years.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Southern brown kiwi</span> Species of bird

The southern brown kiwi, tokoeka, or common kiwi is a species of kiwi from South Island, New Zealand. Until 2000 it was considered conspecific with the North Island brown kiwi, and still is by some authorities.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Great spotted kiwi</span> Species of flightless bird in New Zealand

The great spotted kiwi, great grey kiwi or roroa is a species of kiwi endemic to the South Island of New Zealand. The great spotted kiwi, as a member of the ratites, is flightless. It is the largest of the kiwi. The rugged topography and harsh climate of the high altitude alpine part of its habitat render it inhospitable to a number of introduced mammalian predators, which include dogs, ferrets, cats, and stoats. Because of this, populations of this species have been less seriously affected by the predations of these invasive species compared to other kiwi. Nonetheless, there has been a 43% decline in population in the past 45 years, due to these predators and habitat destruction. This has led it to be classified as vulnerable. There are less than 16,000 great spotted kiwis in total, almost all in the more mountainous parts of northwest Nelson, the northwest coast, and the Southern Alps. A minority live on island reserves.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Okarito kiwi</span> Species of bird

The Okarito kiwi, also known as the rowi or Okarito brown kiwi, is a member of the kiwi family Apterygidae, described as new to science in 2003. The species is part of the brown kiwi complex, and is morphologically very similar to other members of that complex. It is found in a restricted area of the Ōkārito forest on the West Coast of New Zealand's South Island, and has a population of only about 600 birds.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">North Island brown kiwi</span> Species of bird

The North Island brown kiwi is a species of kiwi that is widespread in the northern two-thirds of the North Island of New Zealand and, with about 35,000 remaining, it is the most common kiwi. It holds the world record for laying the largest eggs relative to its body size.

Chalky Island or Te Kākahu-o-Tamatea is an island in the southwest of New Zealand, and is part of Fiordland National Park. It lies at the entrance to Taiari / Chalky Inlet, next to Rakituma / Preservation Inlet, at the southwestern tip of the South Island, 10 kilometres (6 mi) northwest of Puysegur Point, 15 kilometres (9 mi) southeast of West Cape, and 140 kilometres (87 mi) west of Invercargill.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Stoat in New Zealand</span> Introduced ecological threat

The stoat was introduced into New Zealand to control introduced rabbits and hares, but is now a major threat to the native bird population. The natural range of the stoat is limited to parts of the Northern Hemisphere. Immediately before human settlement, New Zealand did not have any land-based mammals apart from bats, but Polynesian and European settlers introduced a wide variety of animals. Rarely, in Southland, the fur of stoats has been reported to turn white, being the fur known as ermine, which adorns royal robes.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Haast tokoeka</span> Species of kiwi

The Haast tokoeka or Haast kiwi is a putative subspecies of the southern brown kiwi. It is one of the rarest kiwi in New Zealand. Like other kiwi, this bird is flightless.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Coal Island (New Zealand)</span>

Coal Island is an island in Fiordland, in the southwest of New Zealand's South Island. Its Māori name is Te Puka-Hereka Island, which translated means The Tied Anchor, but the island is commonly known as Coal Island. Situated at the southern end of Fiordland's west coast, Coal Island lies in the entrance to Rakituma / Preservation Inlet, between Puysegur Point and Gulches Head. This area contains the southernmost fiords of Fiordland, some 200 kilometres (120 mi) south of Milford Sound / Piopiotahi.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Murchison Mountains</span> Mountains in Fiordland National Park in New Zealand

The Murchison Mountains are a group of mountains in Fiordland National Park in New Zealand. It is the location where the South Island takahē, a type of bird presumed extinct, was rediscovered in 1948. The highest mountain is Mount Lyall at 1,892 metres (6,207 ft).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">West Coast Wildlife Centre</span> Zoo in Franz Josef / Waiau

The West Coast Wildlife Centre is a kiwi-rearing facility in Franz Josef, New Zealand. A public-private partnership with the Department of Conservation and Te Rūnunga o Makaawhio of Ngāi Tahu, it hatches eggs of the kiwi species rowi and Haast tokoeka retrieved from the wild. It rears the chicks until they are large enough for transfer to outdoor enclosures as part of Operation Nest Egg. More than 50 per cent of all living rowi were hatched at the Wildlife Centre. It is also a tourist attraction with several captive tuatara, museum displays, and tours of the rearing facility.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Stewart Island kiwi</span>

The Stewart Island tokoeka, Stewart Island kiwi, Rakiura tokoeka or Rakiura kiwi is a subspecies of southern brown kiwi endemic to New Zealand. Like other ratites, it is a flightless bird.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 "Southern Brown Kiwi". New Zealand Birds Online. Retrieved August 18, 2021.
  2. Dominic Couzens (June 18, 2015). Top 100 Birding Sites Of The World. Bloomsbury Publishing. Retrieved August 21, 2021.
  3. Bette Flagler (2004). Adventure Guide to New Zealand. Hunter Publishing, Incorporated. Retrieved August 22, 2021.