The Old World orioles (Oriolidae) are an Old World family of passerine birds. The family contains 41 species which are divided in 4 genera. The family includes two extinct species from New Zealand that are placed in the genus Turnagra.
The bushwren, also known as the mātuhituhi in the Māori language, was a very small and almost flightless bird that was endemic to New Zealand. It had three subspecies on each of the major islands of New Zealand, the North Island, South Island, and Stewart Island / Rakiura and nearby smaller islands. The species disappeared gradually after the introduction of invasive mammalian predators, last being seen on the North Island in 1955 and the South Island in 1968. Attempts were made to save the remaining population on small islands off Stewart Island, but they ultimately failed with the death of the last remaining known birds in 1972.
The New Zealand merganser, also known as Auckland merganser or Auckland Islands merganser, was a typical merganser which is now extinct.
The adzebills, genus Aptornis, were two closely related bird species, the North Island adzebill,, and the South Island adzebill,, of the extinct family Aptornithidae. The family was endemic to New Zealand. A tentative fossil species,, is known from the Miocene Saint Bathans fauna.
The South Island piopio also known as the New Zealand thrush, was a passerine bird of the family Oriolidae.
The North Island piopio was a passerine bird of the family Oriolidae. The North Island piopio is now considered to be extinct.
The bush moa, little bush moa, or lesser moa is an extinct species of moa from the family Emeidae.
The eastern moa is an extinct species of moa that was endemic to New Zealand.
The Tasman starling was described in 1836 by John Gould as a species which occurred on both Norfolk Island and Lord Howe Island. In 1928 Australian ornithologist Gregory Mathews recognized that the plumage of the race from Lord Howe Island was much browner and more greyish than the plumage of the Norfolk Island race and split the species into two forms, the Norfolk starling, and the Lord Howe starling. Both subspecies are now extinct, thus so the species.
The long-billed wren is an extinct species of New Zealand wren formerly endemic to the South Island of New Zealand. It was the only species in the genus Dendroscansor. It shares the name "long-billed wren" with the Brazilian bird Cantorchilus longirostris.
Finsch's duck was a large terrestrial species of duck formerly endemic to New Zealand. The species was possibly once the most common duck in New Zealand, a supposition based on the frequency of its fossils in bone deposits.
The New Zealand bittern is an extinct and enigmatic species of heron in the family Ardeidae. It was endemic to New Zealand and was last recorded alive in the 1890s.
Forbes's snipe is an extinct species of New Zealand snipe formerly endemic to the Chatham Islands. It was the larger of two species found there, the smaller being the surviving Chatham snipe. It was never seen alive by scientists and is known only from fossil material collected on the islands. Why it became extinct while its smaller relative survived is a mystery, as is the exact timing of its extinction, although it may have survived, unnoticed, until the 15th century.
Scarlett's duck is an extinct duck species from New Zealand which was closely related to the Australian pink-eared duck. The scientific name commemorates the late New Zealand ornithologist and palaeontologist Ron Scarlett who discovered the holotype in 1941. However, previously undescribed bones of the species found in 1903 were rediscovered in the Otago Museum in 1998. At least 32 fossil remains from deposits in Pyramid Valley, at Ngāpara in the South Island, and at Lake Poukawa in the North Island are in museum collections.
The South Island stout-legged wren or Yaldwyn's wren is an extinct species of New Zealand wren, a family of small birds endemic to New Zealand.
The heavy-footed moa is a species of moa from the lesser moa family. The heavy-footed moa was widespread only in the South Island of New Zealand, and its habitat was the lowlands. The moa were ratites, flightless birds with a sternum without a keel. They also have a distinctive palate. The origin of these birds is becoming clearer as it is now believed that early ancestors of these birds were able to fly and flew to the southern areas in which they have been found.
The New Zealand goose is a bird of the extinct genus Cnemiornis of the family Anatidae, subfamily Anserinae. The genus, endemic to New Zealand, consisted of two species: the North Island goose, C. gracilis and the South Island goose C. calcitrans.
Scarlett's shearwater was an extinct species of seabird in the petrel family Procellariidae. Its common name commemorates New Zealand palaeontologist Ron Scarlett, who recognised the bird's subfossil remains represented a distinct species.
The New Zealand musk duck, also known as de Lautour's duck, is an extinct stiff-tailed duck native to New Zealand. It is only known from subfossil bones. It was 10 percent larger than its closest living relative, the Australian musk duck Biziura lobata, with which it has sometimes been combined.
Anas chathamica, the Chatham duck or Chatham Island duck is an extinct species of duck, formerly placed in a monotypic genus Pachyanas, which once lived in New Zealand's Chatham Islands in the south-west Pacific Ocean. It was described by Walter Oliver from bird bones in the collection of the Canterbury Museum in 1955 in the second edition of his work New Zealand Birds. Recently, analysis of mitochondrial DNA extracted from subfossil remains showed that the Chatham duck was not, in fact, closely related to shelducks but instead belongs in the genus Anas: the dabbling ducks. Its closest living relatives appear to be the Auckland teal, Campbell teal and the brown teal from New Zealand. Some authors have suggested that the Chatham duck was flightless; however, comparison of Chatham duck wing bones with those from living ducks indicates no disproportional reduction in wing length. The Chatham duck likely became extinct in about the 16th century because of hunting by humans.
