The genus Nestor is one of the two extant genera of the parrot family Strigopidae. Together with the kākāpō, and the extinct parrots in the genus Nelepsittacus, they form the parrot superfamily Strigopoidea. The genus Nestor contains two extant parrot species from New Zealand and two extinct species from Norfolk Island, Australia and Chatham Island, New Zealand, respectively. All species are large stocky birds with short squarish tails. A defining characteristic of the genus is the tongue, which is tipped with a hair-like fringe. The superficial resemblance of this tongue to that of lorikeets has led some taxonomists to consider the two groups closely related, but DNA evidence shows they are not.
The New Zealand merganser, also known as Auckland merganser or Auckland Islands merganser, was a typical merganser which is now extinct.
The magenta petrel, or Chatham Island tāiko, is a small seabird in the gadfly petrel genus, Pterodroma. Found exclusively on Chatham Island, New Zealand it is one of the rarest birds in the world, believed to be extinct for over 100 years before its rediscovery in the 1970s.
The tūī is a boisterous medium-sized bird native to New Zealand. It is blue, green, and bronze colored with a distinctive white throat tuft. It is an endemic passerine bird of New Zealand, and the only species in the genus Prosthemadera. It is one of the largest species in the diverse Australasian honeyeater family Meliphagidae, and one of two living species of that family found in New Zealand, the other being the New Zealand bellbird. The tūī has a wide distribution in the archipelago, ranging from the subtropical Kermadec Islands to the sub-Antarctic Auckland Islands, as well as the main islands.
The New Zealand bellbird, also known by its Māori names korimako, makomako, and kōmako, is a passerine bird endemic to New Zealand. It has greenish colouration and is the only living member of the genus Anthornis. The bellbird forms a significant component of the famed New Zealand dawn chorus of bird song that was much noted by early European settlers. The explorer Captain Cook wrote of its song "it seemed to be like small bells most exquisitely tuned". Its bell-like song is sometimes confused with that of the tūī. The species is common across much of New Zealand and its offshore islands as well as the Auckland Islands.
Anthornis is a bird genus in the honeyeater family (Meliphagidae). Its members are called bellbirds. According to genetic data, it is a sister genus to Prosthemadera.
The stitchbird or hihi is a honeyeater-like bird endemic to the North Island and adjacent offshore islands of New Zealand. Its evolutionary relationships have long puzzled ornithologists, but it is now classed as the only member of its own family, the Notiomystidae. It became rare, being extirpated everywhere except Little Barrier Island, but has been reintroduced to two other island sanctuaries and four locations on the North Island mainland.
The Chatham fernbird is an extinct bird species that was endemic to the Chatham Islands. It was historically known only from Mangere Island, but fossils have been found on Pitt Island and Chatham Island as well. Its closest living relative is the New Zealand fernbird or matata. It was formerly treated as a subspecies of the New Zealand fernbird, but is now widely recognized as its own species. Both fernbirds were formerly placed in their own genus Bowdleria; they were later moved to Megalurus and most recently Poodytes.
The New Zealand quail, or koreke in Māori, is an extinct quail species endemic to New Zealand. The male and female were similar, except the female was lighter. The first scientist to describe it was Sir Joseph Banks when he visited New Zealand on James Cook's first voyage. Terrestrial and temperate, this species inhabited lowland tussock grassland and open fernlands. The first specimen to be obtained by a European was collected in 1827 by Jean René Constant Quoy and Joseph Paul Gaimard on Dumont D'Urville's voyage.
The Chatham parakeet, also known as Forbes' parakeet, is a rare parakeet endemic to the Chatham Islands group, New Zealand. This parakeet is one of New Zealand's rarest birds and is classified as Vulnerable on the IUCN Red List, as a result of a range of threats to the species survival, including habitat loss, predation, and hybridization. A number of conservation methods have been employed to assist the recovery of this species, and currently the population trend is considered stable.
The Chatham pigeon, also called the Chatham Island pigeon or parea, is a bird endemic to the Chatham Islands in New Zealand. Growing to 800g in weight and 55 cm in length, the Chatham Island pigeon is closely related to the kererū or New Zealand pigeon, the only other species in the genus Hemiphaga.
The Chatham rail is an extinct flightless species of bird in the family Rallidae. It was endemic to Chatham, Mangere and Pitt Islands, in the Chatham archipelago of New Zealand.
Dieffenbach's rail is an extinct flightless species of bird from the family Rallidae. It was endemic to the Chatham Islands. The only recorded living specimen of Dieffenbach's rail was captured in 1840 by Ernst Dieffenbach, who is commemorated in the scientific and common name of the species. It became extinct due to hunting and introduced predators, perhaps soon after 1840.
The New Zealand parrot family, Strigopidae, consists of at least three genera of parrots – Nestor, Strigops, the fossil Nelepsittacus, and probably the fossil Heracles. The genus Nestor consists of the kea, kākā, Norfolk kākā and Chatham kākā, while the genus Strigops contains the iconic kākāpō. All extant species are endemic to New Zealand. The species of the genus Nelepsittacus were endemics of the main islands, while the two extinct species of the genus Nestor were found at the nearby oceanic islands such as Chatham Island of New Zealand, and Norfolk Island and adjacent Phillip Island.
Melanocephalus is an epithet often used as the second word of a binomial name. It derives from Greek words meaning 'black-headed'. It is used in the names of the following species:
New Zealand is geographically isolated, and originally lacked any mammalian predators, hence parrots evolved to fill habitats from the ground dwelling kākāpō to the alpine dwelling kea as well as a variety of forest species. The arrival of Māori, then European settlers with their attendant animals, habitat destruction and even deliberate targeting, has resulted in their numbers plummeting. Today one species is on the brink of extinction and three other species range from Vulnerable to Critically Endangered, all impacted by invasive species. Further parrot species were not introduced by acclimatisation societies, but occasional releases, both deliberate and accidental, have resulted in self-sustaining populations of some Australian species. New Zealand was identified among the highest priority countries for parrot conservation in the world, due to its parrot diversity, endemism, threats, and having more threatened parrot species than expected.
Dianne Heather Brunton is a New Zealand ecologist, and head of the Institute of Natural and Computational Sciences at Massey University. Her research area is the behaviour and cultural evolution of animal communication, especially bird song in southern hemisphere species such as the New Zealand bellbird.
