Index of Water / Wetland Birds found in New Zealand
Parrots … Parrots … Birds of Prey / Owls … Pigeons / Doves
Auckland Islands Teal (A. a. aucklandica) – Range: Auckland Islands off New Zealand
Auckland Shag (Phalacrocorax colensoi)
Australasian Bittern (Botaurus poiciloptilus) aka Brown Bittern
Australasian Darters or Australian Darters (Anhinga novaehollandiae)
Australasian Gannet (Morus serrator)
Australasian Grebe (Tachybaptus novaehollandiae)
Australasian Shoveler – Ducks (Anas rhynchotis)
Australian Pelican (Pelicanus conspicillatus) aka Goolayyalibee – Range: Vagrant to New Zealand
Bar-tailed Godwit / shorebird (Limosa lapponica) – Range: Winter visitor
Black-bellied Storm-Petrel (Fregetta tropica) – Seabird
Black-fronted Dotterel / Plover (Elseyornis melanops) – Range: Self-introduced in New Zealand
Black-fronted Terns (Chlidonias albostriatus) – Found in or near bodies of fresh water in New Zealand.
Black Swan (Cygnus atratus) – Range: Some argue that black swans are natives (self-introduced); others list them as introduced / invasive species. Arguments can be made for both. Black Swans were introduced into New Zealand as ornamental water birds. However, there are some indications that some populations are self-introduced natives. The result of this discussion is of importance in as much being classified as “natives” would offer these swans legal protection; at the moment they are considered invasive species and are commonly hunted / killed for sport or as tourist attractions.
Black Stilt or Kak? (M?ori) (Himantopus novaezelandiae) – Range: One of the most threatened shorebirds in the world. The current population is estimated at 22 adult birds. There is a captive population of some 25 adults, annual release in the wild of captive-bred birds and predator control has probably prevented it from becoming extinct in the wild. During the breeding season it is restricted to the upper Waitaki Valley, South Island, New Zealand. Small numbers overwinter in the North Island.
Black Teal aka New Zealand Scaup (Aythya novaeseelandiae)
Black-winged Petrel (Pterodroma nigripennis) – Seabird
Blue Duck (Hymenolaimus malacorhynchus)
Bounty Shag (Phalacrocorax ranfurlyi)
Buller’s Albatross (Thalassarche bulleri) – Range: Islands around New Zealand
Buller’s Shearwater (“Puffinus” bulleri) aka Grey-backed Shearwater or New Zealand Shearwater – seabird – Range: Breed predominantly on Tawhiti Rahi and Aorangi, the main islands of the Poor Knights group offshore northern New Zealand
Broad-billed Prion (Pachyptila vittata) – Seabird – Range: Found on the sub-antarctic Antipodes Islands and other islands off the coast of New Zealand
Brolga Cranes (Grus rubicunda) – Range: Rare vagrants
Buff-banded Rail (Gallirallus philippensis)
Campbell Albatross (Thalassarche impavida) – Range: Campbell Island (New Zealand) and the associated islet of Jeanette Marie
Campbell Island Teal (Anas nesiotis) – Range: Campbell Island group off New Zealand
Campbell Shag (Phalacrocorax campbelli)
Canada Geese – Introduced as a game bird into New Zealand
Cape Barren Goose (Cereopsis novaehollandiae)
Cape Petrel (Daption capense) – Range: Breed in New Zealand
Caspian Tern (Hydroprogne caspia formerly Sterna caspia)
Cattle Egret (Bubulcus ibis)
Chatham Albatross (Thalassarche eremita) – Range: Breeds only on The Pyramid, a large rock stack in the Chatham Islands, New Zealand.
Chatham Island Oystercatcher (Haematopus chathamensis) – Range: Chatham Islands, New Zealand.
Chatham Island Snipe (Coenocorypha pusilla) – Endemic to the Chatham Islands of New Zealand
Chatham Petrel (Pterodroma axillaris)
Cook’s Petrel (Pterodroma cookii) – Range: Pacific Ocean from New Zealand north to the Aleutian Islands
Double-banded Plover (Charadrius bicinctus) aka the Banded Dotterel
Eastern Great Egret (Ardea modesta)
Eastern Reef Egret (Egretta sacra) – Range: Oceanic region of New Zealand
Erect-crested Penguins (Eudyptes sclateri)
Far Eastern Curlew or Eastern Curlew (Numenius madagascariensis) – Rare visitor.
Fiordland Crested Penguin (Eudyptes pachyrhynchus) – Range: New Zealand – along the Fiordland coast and its outlying islands as well as on Stewart Island/Rakiura
Flesh-footed Shearwater – seabird (Puffinus carneipes) – Range: Northern New Zealand
Fluttering Shearwater (Puffinus gavia)
Great Egret (Casmerodius albus), also known as the Great White Egret, White Heron, Common Egret or Kotuku
Great-winged Petrel or Grey-faced Petrel (Pterodroma macroptera) – Range: Northern New Zealand
Grey-backed Storm-petrel (Garrodia nereis) – Seabird
Grey-headed Albatrosses (Thalassarche chrysostoma) – Range: Campbell Island (New Zealand) and Macquarie Island south of New Zealand
Grey Noddy or Grey Ternlet (Procelsterna albivitta) – Range: Breeds in northern New Zealand (particularly the Kermadec Islands)
Grey Petrel (Procellaria cinerea)
Grey Plover (Pluvialis squatarola), known as the Black-bellied Plover in North America – Range: Rare visitor
Grey Teal (Anas gracilis)
Gull-billed Tern (Gelochelidon nilotica)
Hardhead or White-eyed Ducks (Aythya australis)
Hoary-headed Grebe (Poliocephalus poliocephalus) – Rare visitor
Hutton’s Shearwaters (Puffinus huttoni) – Range: Found in New Zealand, with breeding restricted to only two remaining colonies in the Kaikoura Seaward Ranges, Kaikoura.
Indian Yellow-nosed Albatross (Thalassarche carteri)
King Shag aka New Zealand King Shag or Rough-faced Shag (Phalacrocorax carunculatus)
Latham’s Snipe (Gallinago hardwickii) aka Japanese Snipe – Range: Rare straggler to New Zealand
Little Black Cormorant (Phalacrocorax sulcirostris) – Range: Northern New Zealand
Little Blue Penguin (Eudyptula minor) – Range: Coastline of New Zealand
Little Penguin (Eudyptula minor) – Range: Coastline of New Zealand
Little Pied Cormorant, Little Shag or Kawaupaka (Phalacrocorax melanoleucos) – Range: Coasts, islands, estuaries, and inland waters
Magenta Petrel or Chatham Island Taiko (Pterodroma magentae)
Mallard (Anas platyrhynchos) – Range: Introduced into New Zealand
Mottled Petrel (Pterodroma inexpectata) – Seabird – Range: Breeds in New Zealand and some of the lesser islands
Nankeen Night Heron (Nycticorax caledonicus) – A small colony has established near Wanganui, New Zealand
New Zealand Coot (Fulica prisca) (prehistoric)
New Zealand Dabchick (Poliocephalus rufopectus, or Weweia) – Grebes
New Zealand Dotterel or Red-breasted Plover (Charadrius obscurus)
New Zealand Fairy Tern or tara-iti (Sterna nereis davisae) – Breed on the lower half of the Northland Peninsula of the North Island of New Zealand; on Waipu, Mangawhai, and the South Kaipara Head. The wintering range of the birds extends over the Kaipara Harbour. Outside of the breeding season fairy terns form flocks on the harbour, often around Tapora.
New Zealand King Shag aka Rough-faced Shag (Phalacrocorax carunculatus)
New Zealand Little Bittern (Ixobrychus novaezelandiae) – Extinct
New Zealand Scaup (Aythya novaeseelandiae)
New Zealand Snipes (Coenocorypha) – Range: Outlying Islands of New Zealand
New Zealand Storm-petrel (Oceanites maorianus) – seabird
New Zealand Swan (Cygnus atratus sumnerensis) – Range: Chatham Islands and the South Island of New Zealand
North Island Takah? or m?ho (Porphyrio mantelli) – Range: An extinct rail that was found in the North Island of New Zealand
Oriental Plover (Charadrius veredus) aka Oriental Dotterel – Range: Straggler to New Zealand
Pacific Black Duck aka Grey Duck or Parera (Anas superciliosa)
Paradise Shelduck (Tadorna variegata)
Parkinson’s Petrel or Black Petrel (Procellaria parkinsoni) – Range: New Zealand, breeding only on islands off the North Island, on Great Barrier Island and Little Barrier Island.
Pectoral Sandpiper (Calidris or Erolia melanotos) – Range: Winter in New Zealand
Pycroft’s Petrel (Pterodroma pycrofti) – Seabird
Pied Cormorant aka Pied Shag or Karuhiruhi (Phalacrocorax varius) – Range: Around the coasts of Australasia
Pied Oystercatcher (Haematopus longirostris)
Pied Stilt or White-headed Stilt (Himantopus leucocephalus or Himantopus himantopus leucocephalus)
Pitt Cormorant or Featherstone’s Shag (Phalacrocorax featherstoni)
Purple Swamphen (Porphyrio porphyrio), also known as the Purple Gallinule
Red-billed Gull (Larus scopulinus) – Range: New Zealand and outlying islands including the Chatham Islands and Sub-antarctic islands
Red-capped Plover (Charadrius ruficapillus) aka Red-capped Dotterel – Range: Straggler to New Zealand
Red-kneed Dotterel (Erythrogonys cinctus) – Range: Vagrant to New Zealand
Red-tailed Tropicbird (Phaethon rubricauda)
Royal Penguins (Eudyptes schlegeli) – Range: Around the New Zealand coast
Royal Spoonbill (Platalea regia) also known as the Black-billed Spoonbill – Range: Fresh and saltwater wetlands in New Zealand
Salvin’s Albatrosses (Thalassarche salvini)
Salvin’s Prion (Pachyptila salvini) – Seabirds
Shore Plover or Tuturuatu (Thinornis novaeseelandiae) – Range: South Island in New Zealand but became extinct there.
Short-tailed Shearwater or Muttonbird / Moonbird (Puffinus tenuirostris) – Seabirds
Shy Albatross / Shy Mollymawk (Thalassarche cauta) – Range: Breeds off New Zealand’s sub-Antarctic islands and ranges extensively across the Southern Ocean
Snares Penguin (Eudyptes robustus) aka Snares Crested Penguin and the Snares Islands Penguin – Range: The Snares, a group of islands off the southern coast of the South Island
Soft-plumaged Petrel (Pterodroma mollis) – Breeds on the Antipodes Islands of New Zealand
Sooty Albatrosses (Phoebetria fusca) – Range: Rare vagrants
Sooty Shearwater (Puffinus griseus) – Seabirds
Southern Fulmar (Fulmarus glacialoides – Range: Small numbers are seen off the coasts of New Zealand
Southern Royal Albatross (Diomedea epomophora) – Found in the waters surrounding New Zealand
South Georgia Diving-petrel or Georgian Diving-petrel (Pelecanoides georgicus) – Range: Breeds on Codfish Island and formerly bred on the Auckland Islands. It disperses to surrounding seas.
South Island Oystercatcher (Haematopus finschi) – South Island
Spotless Crake (Porzana tabuensis)
Spur-winged Plover aka Masked Lapwing (Vanellus miles novaehollandiae) – Range: Self introduced to Southland, New Zealand
Stewart Island Shag (Phalacrocorax chalconotus) aka Bronzed Shag or Stewart Shag – Range: Southernmost parts of the South Island of New Zealand, from the Otago Peninsula south to the Foveaux Strait, and to Stewart Island
Takah? or South Island Takah? ( Porphyrio hochstetteri) / flightless rail
Variable Oystercatcher (Haematopus unicolor) – Endemic – Range: Breed in North Island, South Island, Stewart Island, and Chatham Islands. They don’t breed inland or beside rivers.
Westland Petrel (Procellaria westlandica) is a rare seabird – Range: Confined to a small area of the west coast of New Zealand’s South Island in an area protected in Paparoa National Park in dense forested hills.
White-bellied Storm-Petrel (Fregetta grallaria) (seabird)
White-capped Albatross (Thalassarche steadi) – Range: Breeds on the islands off of New Zealand, i.e., Disappointment Island, Auckland Island / Adams Island, Bollons Island (Antipodes Islands)
White-faced Heron (Egretta novaehollandiae, formerly Ardea novaehollandiae)
White-faced Storm-petrel (Pelagodroma marina) – Seabird
White-flippered Penguins (Eudyptula albosignata albosignata) – Range: Banks Peninsula and Motunau Island, near Canterbury, New Zealand
White-necked Petrel (Pterodroma cervicalis) – Seabird
Wrybill or Ngutuparore (Anarhynchus frontalis) – Plover
Yellow-billed Spoonbill (Platalea flavipes): – Range: Vagrant
Yellow-eyed Penguins (Megadyptes antipodes) – Range: Southeast New Zealand
