Birds of the Kaipatiki Area
Birds are continually
moving in, around and out of the Kaipatiki Forest.
The Kaipatiki Reserve provides a
variety of different forest habitats for birds. Birds also have the ability to
fly between different bush patches such as Eskdale and Kauri Park. While
Kaipatiki has most common bird species, there are also a large number of
unnoticed less common species too. These include herons, wood pigeons, cuckoos
and many more.
Natives
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Tui
This beautiful bird is a
shining blue-black with white feathers on its throat. One of the most well
recognised native birds, it has a beautiful song and is especially well
known for its love of kowhai and flax flowers and the nectar they contain. |
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Fantail
(piwakawaka)
Their flitting flight is
aided by the wide fan-shaped tail feathers that allow it to turn very
quickly in the air, thus allowing it to catch the insects it feeds on in
mid-flight. Often thought of as tame, the fantail may approach people
moving through the bush as they disturb insects which the fantail may then
eat. |
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NZ Pigeon (
kereru)
This giant of
the airways (51cm) has a beautiful white breast with green and purple
feathers around its back and head. It eats fruits, flowers and leaves of
native trees and is the only bird left in New Zealand with a wide enough
mouth/beak to eat and disperse native trees with large fruit, such as the
tawa, taraire, karaka and puriri. It has a rudimentary nest made up of a
flimsy platform of twigs. To the inexperienced it hardly even looks like a
nest!
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Morepork
( ruru)
Named the Morepork because
the early European settlers thought that its haunting cry at night sounded
like "More pork", while the Maori, more practically heard
"ruru". The morepork is only active at night and is a
near-silent flier so that it can surprise the insects, small mammals and
lizards that it feeds on. |
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White
Faced Heron
Ungainly in flight, this
large wading bird lives near estuaries where it feeds on all manner of
things lurking beneath the mud. It has a distinctive croaking call and as
its name suggests has a white face, while the rest of its body is grey. |
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Shining
Cuckoo ( pipiwharauroa)
This sparrow-sized bird is
most remarkable in that it flies to the Solomon Islands every year during
New Zealand's winter. It eats insects, and like other cuckoos lays its
eggs in the nests of other birds, particularly the grey warbler. |
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Kingfisher
The Kingfisher nests in holes
made in mud banks and rotting trees. It hunts insects, small fish and
birds, mice, lizards and earthworms. |
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Silvereye
A relatively small (12cm)
bird that was self-introduced from Australia in the 1830's, easily
recognised by its "forest-green" colouring with a distinct white
ring around its eyes (hence the name). Common in flocks around Autumn and
Winter. They feed on insects and fruits, but are also known to feed on
nectar. |
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Banded
Rail |
Exotic Species
Magpies
(Australia)
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Myna
(Middle East)
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Eastern
Rosella (Australia)
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Starling
(Western Europe)
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Sparrow
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Blackbird (Western Europe)
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Thrush (Western Europe)
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Chaffinch
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