#aoteatoa

yo, that's so cool! And yes! I love all our birds but here are some favourites. This might end up as a long-ish post.

The first bird owns my entire heart but is unfortunately extinct, and that is the Huia. I was told about them because my aunt uses huia imagery a lot in her art and I did an art study on them. Traditionally, they were used a lot in Maori cultur such as their tail feathers held great significance as symbols of friendship and respect. They were also used as accessories. However, I believe they quickly became extinct after Europeans arrived due to deforestation and over-hunting. Owning part of a huia bird became a high fashionable demand (I could have this wrong), and female huia beaks were set in gold as broaches.

(Male huia in the front, female huia at the back)

Closely related to huia is the Kōkako. "In Māori myth, the kōkako filled its wattles with water and brought it to Maui as he fought the sun. Maui rewarded the bird by making its legs long and slender, enabling it to bound through the forest with ease." (Department of Conservation). I just think they're really neat.

Fantail (or pīwakawaka) aren't necessarily native but they're very common. I love them and they low-key remind me of fairies for reasons I can't quite explain.

Kākā and Kea are part of the same family. Kākā are large parrots and they're pretty neat and live more in forests, keas are little shits but super intelligent and are alpine birds. You often hear stories of keas picking at rubber seals on cars or windscreen wipers.

(L: Kākā R: Kea)

I cannot make a post about New Zealand animals without mentioning the kiwi. There are about 5 species, I think: Brown Kiwi, Great spotted kiwi/roroa, Little spotted kiwi, Rowi, and Tokoeka. When I was a kid, I needed to have music or something to fall asleep and one of the cassette tapes my parents used to play had a story called 'how the kiwi lost its wings'. To sum up, the Tāne (atua/got of forests and birds) asked the birds for volunteers to live on the forest floors to eat the bugs or something. The kiwi was the only one to volunteer after all the other birds refused. So Tāne shrunk the kiwis wings and made their beak longer.

(Image is of the little spotted kiwi)

Morepork/ruru! These are owls and they're super cool! Occasionally, I'll hear one or two at night. They're very common and one of the only birds on this list that isn't under immediate threat of extinction.

Pūkeko are swamphens. When I was a kid, I learnt about takahe before I learnt about Pūkeko, so when I first saw one I got excited and called it a takahe. But they're quite common, my siblings and I would make a game of counting how many Pūkekos we see on the way to/from our grandparents. As swamphens, they're usually wetland birds. But due to the loss of habitats, they've adapted to other environments such as paddocks and croplands. But they're primarily swamp birds.

I would see wax-eye/tauhou birds a lot in the back gardens. They're small olive green birds with a white ring around their eyes. Their name in te reo (tauhou) translates to 'stranger' or more literally, 'new arrival'.

Tūī are another favourite. These guys are honey eaters, typically eating from flowers. They're also songbirds and can mimic songs. They're quite common as well, and have a very distinctive call. You often hear them before you see them.

I think there's a limit of 10 photos so I can't add anymore but there's also the New Zealand Wood Pigeon, or Kererū. These guys are gorgeous too. They also mainly eat fruits and flowers. I don't know if this is correct, but I think I remember someone saying that these birds sometimes get drunk off of the fruits or flowers they eat. They were historically a major food source for Māori, and we're considered a taonga (treasure).

And I guess these count as birds since one species won the New Zealand Bird of the Year in 2021, but we have two species of bats! The long-tail bat and the short-tail bat.