New Zealand’s Bird Extinction Rate Study’s Gauge
About 12 per cent of birds have died out as result of human activity in past 120,000 years, say scientists, with New Zealand used as the baseline for bird species loss on the basis…
Tag Archives: birds
Why New Zealand Is Obsessed with Its Native Birds
New Zealand has an internationally unusual focus and dedication to its winged creatures, Tess McClure writes in a story published by The Guardian. That love has shaped its national identity and conservation agenda and…
Aves Appreciation Rubs off on Sydney Writer
It seems like “every single” New Zealander has some kind of “bird madness”, and Sydney writer Rebecca Shaw has now determined that she too is “infected”, “and loving it”. Shaw reports on her new-found…
Tidbits From the Late Great John Clarke
Photographing birds and tinkering with words were two of the late John Clarke’s favourite pastimes. In a Guardian article, they come together in excerpts from a new book showcasing the New Zealander’s body of…
NZ Bird Recognise People, Show Different Personalities
A study has revealed that a native New Zealand bird is able to recognise different humans. Researchers at Victoria University found that the North Island Robin, or toutouwai, reacts differently to humans by timing…
Deservedly Great Painter
New Zealand artist Don Binney, best known for his striking emblematic paintings of birds, has died in Auckland aged 72. Binney worked in oil, acrylic, charcoal, ink and carbon pencil. Many public collections feature…
Freedom For Little Blues
Forty-nine little blue penguins rescued from the Rena oil spill that occurred in October off the coast of Tauranga have been returned to the wild at Mt Maunganui beach. Most of them immediately ran…
God Save Thee, Ancient Mariner!
The mariner soon learnt his lesson, but it doesn’t seem to have rubbed off on today’s fishermen, with one of the world’s most majestic seabirds threatened with extinction from long-line fishing, and environmental and habitat pollution. The…
Crack Kiwi Anti-predator Experts Keep Puffin Puffing
Bird-counting volunteer Louise Tickle sees positive effects of New Zealand wildlife preservation techniques on British seabird populations.
