Exotic Birds in New Zealand

I'll make up a rough list when I have time. I did think about making a "bird list in NZ zoos" like I did for mammals but it would mostly be the common avicultural subjects which in NZ are largely psittacids with a few finches and pheasants (and I'd basically just have to list all the species held in private aviculture because any and all could appear in zoos at any time). Zoos here aren't terribly interested in exotic birds because the opinion, rightly or wrongly, is that while the public do want to see exotic mammals like monkeys and tigers, the birds can be covered by just the easily-obtained avicultural subjects bred within NZ by private keepers. Almost all the more interesting species are now almost or totally gone (I particularly miss the noisy pittas at Wellington Zoo).

 

here we go. Listed more or less taxonomically (old school) with exotic species named first under each heading, followed by native species. I make no claims for the completeness of the list but it is most of the species in captivity in NZ; there will be a few parrots, finches etc missing. Exotic species are mostly in private aviculture with zoos obtaining their stock from there. Very few species are held only in zoos. Native species are only held in DoC-licenced collections (apart for some species of native ducks, and the red-crowned and yellow-crowned kakariki which can also be kept privately under licence; a handful of people are also licenced to keep, eg, kea and Antipodes Island parakeet). In general I haven't listed zoos or numbers for the species unless there are only a few specimens in the country.

These first species are foreign birds that have introduced wild populations in NZ but would not be seen in zoos:
*European skylark
*Dunnock (hedge sparrow)
*Song thrush
*European blackbird
*House sparrow
*European starling

RATITES:
Exotic:
*Ostrich (common in zoos, private keepers, and being farmed)
*Emu (common in zoos, private keepers, and being farmed)
*(there used to be common rhea in NZ but no longer)

Native:
*North Island brown kiwi (the species on display in all the Kiwi Houses)
*Great spotted kiwi (in Operation Nest Egg (ONE) programme, and a pair on display at Otorohanga; one off-display at Willowbank)
*Little spotted kiwi (a pair on display at Otorohanga)
*Okarito brown kiwi (in ONE)
*Haast brown kiwi (in ONE)
*Southern brown kiwi (not sure if there's any of these at the moment in ONE or any injured birds)

PENGUINS:
Exotic:
*King penguin (at Kelly Tarlton's)
*Gentoo penguin (at Kelly Tarlton's)
(technically these two species are native, but the original stock was imported captive-bred birds)

Native:
*Little blue penguin (at several zoos)
*White-flippered penguin (at the Antarctic Centre in Christchurch)
*Yellow-eyed penguin (only in rescue situations, i.e. injured birds)
*(sometimes vagrants of subantarctic species would find their way into rescue centres)

GANNETS:
Native:
*Australasian gannet (injured birds unable to be released, e.g. at Napier Marineland)

PELICANS:
Exotic:
*Australian pelican (only one left, at Wellington Zoo)

CORMORANTS:
Native:
*Black shag
*Pied shag
*Little pied shag
*Little black shag
(all predominantly injured birds, and no doubt at times also spotted shags and Stewart Island shags - all other species on the NZ list are not found on the mainland)

HERONS:
Exotic:
*Cattle egret (a winter migrant from Australia, but I think the original captive stock may have been imported from Australia; there used to be a lot of cattle egrets at Wellington Zoo but there's not many around now)
*Nankeen night heron (also technically native, but the captive stock was from captive Australian imports; I'm not sure how many if any are still here in zoos)

Native:
*White heron (= great white egret)
*White-faced heron
*Reef heron (rarely)
*Australasian bittern (rarely)
(all these species can be seen in various collections via injured rescue birds)

SPOONBILLS and IBIS:
Exotic:
*Australian white ibis (used to be a lot around in zoos, now only a few, e.g. at Wellington Zoo)
*Straw-necked ibis (used to be kept at Auckland Zoo; not sure if they're still there)
*Glossy ibis (I have seen these in the past at Wellington Zoo, not sure if there's any around now)

Native:
*Royal spoonbill (sometimes seen in zoos, usually as injured rescue birds)

FLAMINGOS:
Exotic:
*Greater flamingo (8.8 at Auckland Zoo, originally brought in from Slimbridge; never bred here)

WATERFOWL:
Exotic:
*Black swan
*Mute swan
*Canada goose
*Domestic (greylag) goose
*Domestic (Chinese) goose
*Cape Barren goose
*Egyptian goose (haven't seen any for a while but I'm pretty sure they are still around)
*Australian shelduck
*Mallard
*Chestnut teal
*Muscovy duck
*Carolina wood duck
*Mandarin duck

(there may still be some of the following around but I haven't seen them for a long time):
*Magpie goose
*Plumed whistling duck
*Radjah shelduck
*Australian wood duck (maned goose)
*White-eyed duck

Native:
*Paradise duck
*Blue duck
*Grey duck (= Pacific black duck)
*Brown teal
*Auckland Island teal
*Campbell Island teal
*Grey teal
*NZ shoveller
*NZ scaup

BIRDS OF PREY:
Native:
*Australasian harrier (at a few zoos, and as injured rescue birds)
*NZ falcon (at a few zoos, also as injured rescue birds, and a few people keep them under licence for falconry)

GAMEBIRDS:
Exotic:
*Domestic turkey
*Helmeted (domestic) guineafowl
*Domestic fowl
*Blue peafowl
*(there used to be green peafowl as well, but I think they're long gone now)
*Ring-necked pheasant (common introduced species; common in aviculture in various forms)
*Golden pheasant
*Silver pheasant
*Lady Amherst's pheasant
*Reeve's pheasant
*Swinhoe's pheasant
*Himalayan monal (not common)
*Red-legged partridge (failed introduced species, still found in aviculture)
*Chukar (common in the Southern Alps; often seen in collections)
*Grey partidge (failed introduced species, not sure if there's any left in aviculture)
*Australian brown quail (common in wild; regularly kept in aviculture)
*Chinese painted quail (very common)
*Japanese quail (very common)
*Californian quail (very common in wild; often kept in aviculture)
*Bobwhite (failed introduced species, still found in aviculture)

CRANES:
Exotic:
*Brolga (originally a pair imported by Auckland Zoo; now also pairs or individuals at Wellington, Hamilton and Franklin)

RAILS:
Native:
*Weka (common in zoos, mostly North Island weka and buff weka)
*Banded rail (at a few zoos)
*Marsh crake (never seen one but potentially could be somewhere)
*Spotless crake (never seen one but potentially could be somewhere)
*Pukeko (= purple gallinule) (fairly common)
*Takahe (at Willowbank, Mt. Bruce, and Te Anau)

SHOREBIRDS:
Native:
*the only species really seen in zoos are the oystercatchers (variable and South Island pied), stilts (pied and black) and spur-winged plover (= masked lapwing). NZ shore plover and NZ dotterel are also kept for conservation programmes. There aren't any shorebird exhibits in NZ zoos as can be seen in overseas zoos, but random injured birds of any species could potentially turn up anywhere.

GULLS:
Native:
*Black-backed (kelp or dominican) gull
*Red-billed gull
*Black-billed gull
*(all three gull species can be found as injured rescued birds here and there. Potentially there could be some terns also, such as Caspian, black-fronted and white-fronted)

PIGEONS:
Exotic:
*Domestic pigeon
*Barbary dove
*Senegal (laughing) dove
*Spot-necked dove (also common as wild birds in the North Island)
*Emerald dove (= green-winged pigeon)
*Wonga pigeon (now uncommon)
*Brown cuckoo-dove (I've never seen one in NZ aviculture but apparently they are here, although uncommon)
*Common bronzewing
*Crested pigeon
*Bleeding heart pigeon
*Talpacoti dove (probably not many left around)
*Cape (Namaqua) dove
*Diamond dove
*Peaceful dove (often sold as zebra dove, but I'm not sure if there actually are any real zebra doves here)
*Bar-shouldered dove (not sure if there's any left in NZ)

Native:
*NZ pigeon (the only native species; commonly seen in zoos)

PARROTS:
(this is just a straight list of species available in NZ aviculture, although there will be some missing; because of continued smuggling I'm not really sure how many species are actually in the country [e.g. since I left the private avicultural scene a number of new psittacids have mysteriously entered the trade, even though there hasn't been any legal importation for a long time]. Greater sulphur-crested cockatoos and eastern rosellas are both common birds in the wild in some parts of NZ; there's a small wild population of galahs near Auckland; a population of about 200 rainbow lorikeets around Auckland was eliminated by DoC; Indian ringnecks are being reported more often and may yet become established in the wild; crimson rosellas are no longer found as wild birds in NZ)

Exotic:
*Red lory
*Yellow-bibbed lory
*Blue-streaked lory
*Black-capped lory
*Chattering lory
*Rainbow lorikeet
*Red-collared lorikeet
*Massena's lorikeet
*Green-naped lorikeet
*Scaly-breasted lorikeet
*Musk lorikeet
*Little lorikeet (not sure if any left here)
*Purple-crowned lorikeet (not sure if any left here)
*Goldie's lorikeet
*Red-tailed black cockatoo
*Yellow-tailed black cockatoo
*White-tailed black cockatoo
*Gang-gang
*Galah
*Greater sulphur-crested cockatoo
*Leadbeater's cockatoo (= Major Mitchell's or pink cockatoo)
*Moluccan cockatoo (= salmon-crested cockatoo)
*Umbrella cockatoo (= white cockatoo)
*Goffin's cockatoo
*Long-billed corella
*Little corella
*Cockatiel
*Eclectus (various subspecies)
*Australian king parrot
*Australian crimson-wing
*Superb parrot (= barraband)
*Rock pebbler (= regent parrot)
*Princess parrot
*Port Lincoln parrot
Twenty-eight parrot
Cloncurry parrot
Mallee ringneck
*Western rosella (= Stanley rosella)
*Crimson rosella
*Yellow rosella
*Adelaide rosella
*Green rosella
*Brown rosella (= northern rosella)
*Pale-headed rosella
*Eastern rosella
*Blue-bonnet
*Red-rumped parrot
*Mulga parrot
*Hooded parrot
*Bourke's parrot
*Turquoisine
*Elegant parrot
*Blue-winged parrot
*Scarlet-chested parrot
*Budgerigar
*Swift parrot (not sure if there's any of these left)
*African grey parrot
*Timneh grey parrot
*Senegal parrot
*Peach-faced lovebird
*Nyassa lovebird
*Masked lovebird
*Fischer's lovebird
*Indian ringneck
*Alexandrine
*Moustached parrot
*Slaty-headed parrot
*Plum-headed parrot
*Blossom-headed parrot
*Derbyan parrot
*Malabar parrot
*Scarlet macaw
*Blue and gold macaw
*Military macaw
*Green-winged macaw
*(not sure if there's any hyacinth macaws left)
*Red-fronted macaw
*Sun conure
*Jandaya conure
*Peach-fronted conure
*Nanday conure
*Monk (quaker) parrot
*Maroon-bellied conure
*Green-cheeked conure
*Yellow-headed amazon
*Mealy amazon

Native:
*Kea (common in zoos; a few in private hands under licence)
*North Island kaka (fairly common in zoos)
*South Island kaka (very rarely kept in zoos)
*Kakapo (occasionally one (Sirocco) on view to public, e.g. at Auckland Zoo in 2009; hand-raised birds sometimes shown to public before release)
*Yellow-crowned kakariki (very common in public and private collections)
*Red-crowned kakariki (very common in public and private collections)
*Orange-fronted kakariki (in a few facilities)
*Antipodes Island parakeet (in a few facilities; a few in licenced private hands)

CUCKOOS:
Native:
*only two native species, the long-tailed cuckoo and the shining cuckoo. Both are sometimes injured and end up in rescue centres; potentially could be seen in a zoo.

OWLS:
Exotic:
*Australian barn owl (I think there's just one left in captivity here [but also two vagrant ones wild in the north])
*Little owl (a common introduced species, found in some zoos)

Native:
*Morepork (found in many zoos, usually in the Kiwi Houses)

FROGMOUTHS:
Exotic:
*Tawny frogmouth (only one left, at Wellington Zoo)

KINGFISHERS:
Exotic:
*Common kookaburra (an introduced species found in the north of the North Island; zoo birds derive from these wild ones)

Native:
*Sacred kingfisher (at a few zoos and rescue centres)

WARBLERS, FLYCATCHERS, etc:
Native:
*Yellowhead (have only once been kept (at Orana Park and Peacock Springs); no longer any in captivity as far as I know)
*Whitehead (have been kept a number of times -- e.g. at Otorohanga and Mt. Bruce -- and I think there are still some around)
*I seem to recall something about NZ robins being kept somewhere as well, but I can't remember where.

WHITE-EYES:
Native:
*Silvereye (common bird in NZ, very rarely in zoos)

HONEYEATERS:
Native:
*Tui (fairly often kept in zoos)
*Bellbird (sometimes kept in zoos)
*Stitchbird (in a couple of collections) [technically not a honeyeater, but was formerly included as such]

BUNTINGS, FINCHES, etc:
(waxbills of many African and Asian species used to be freely imported into NZ from Australia and so few hobbyists actually bred them. Once imports were halted the numbers in NZ fell quickly but most of those listed below are probably still around. Some are rare, some very common. Only a few are generally seen in public collections)

Exotic:
*Yellowhammer
*Cirl bunting
*European goldfinch
*European greenfinch
*Common chaffinch
*Redpoll
(the above species are all common as wild birds in NZ and are often kept in private aviculture; could be found in smaller collections)

*Yellow bunting
*Canary
*Green singing finch
*Red siskin
*Melba finch
*Aurora finch
*African firefinch
*Red-cheeked cordon-bleu
*Common waxbill (= St. Helena finch)
*Orange-breasted waxbill
*Cut-throat finch
*Red avadavat (= strawberry finch)
*Red-browed finch
*Painted finch
*Beautiful firetail
*Red-eared firetail
*Diamond finch
*Zebra finch
*Crimson finch
*Star finch
*Double-barred finch
*Masked finch
*Long-tailed finch
*Black-throated finch
*Pin-tailed parrot-finch
*Red-headed parrot-finch
*Blue-faced parrot-finch
*Gouldian finch
*Plum-headed finch
*Bengalese finch
*African silverbill
*Java sparrow
*Black-headed munia
*White-headed munia
*Tri-coloured munia
*Nutmeg finch
*Chestnut-breasted mannikin
*(a bunch of other munias I can't remember right now)
*Cuban finch
*Jacarini finch

(the following species are probably no longer in NZ):
*Red-crested cardinal
*Green cardinal
*Red bishop
*White-winged whydah
*Pin-tailed whydah
*Red-shouldered whydah

STARLINGS:
Exotic:
*Common mynah and European starling are the only species in NZ, both common in the wild. The mynah is sometimes seen in zoos.

NZ WATTLEBIRDS:
Native:
*North Island kokako (in a couple of facilities)
*North Island saddleback (only at Orana Park I believe, although it would seem likely that Te Wao Nui at Auckland Zoo will have them as well)

AUSTRALIAN MAGPIES:
Exotic:
*Australian magpie (common introduced bird in NZ, can be seen in various zoos)

CROWS:
Exotic:
*Rook (uncommon introduced bird in NZ, occasionally seen in the smaller zoos)

 

I might just add some other species I remember from the past, all now gone: Nicobar pigeons and wedge-tailed eagle at Wellington Zoo; Torresian imperial pigeons and razor-billed curassow at Auckland Zoo; Australian brush turkey at Orana Park in its early days (Orana had lots of birds in its first few years then did away with almost all of them except the native section).

 

as with the mammals, there would be single collections in Europe and USA that contain more species than can be seen in the whole of New Zealand! With birds that is of course largely to do with our distance from anywhere else and the consequent cost and difficulty of importation, coupled with (more recently) our quite sensible biosecurity concerns, so emphasis for zoo exotica is on the mammals which the paying public are more eager to see.

However I wouldn't want to live anywhere else in the world (although it is nice to visit )

 

*I thought I'd seen some white ibis remaining at Wellington on my last visit there (2008) but I just checked my bird list from the visit and they weren't there after all; same for cattle egret. I suspect that there are absolutely no ibis left in any of the zoos, and probably no night herons or cattle egrets either. However the last two species could appear at some time via injured birds from the wild.
*there are almost certainly still Egyptian geese in private hands but I haven't seen any in zoos since the 90s. I haven't seen chestnut teals in any zoo for a long time, but they are definitely still kept privately. Possibly Australian wood ducks and plumed whistling ducks are still kept privately, but there are probably no magpie geese, white-eyed ducks or radjah shelducks.
*I think the monals will become more common. I don't know where they came from originally. I had never heard of them being kept privately, but then they appeared at Wellington Zoo and then at others (including at Willowbank as well as the other zoos you mentioned).
*I didn't know Otorohanga had godwits. They will presumably be injured birds. They are very common migrants to NZ.
*the coots are natural colonists from Australia and are very common around the country now (first arrived here in the 1950s). I left them off the list deliberately because they are so common as wild birds that I doubt any zoo would go out of their way to keep them. They can be seen on ponds at many zoos as wild birds.

 

I had a count-up of the exotics on the list I made and there are roughly 200 species in captivity in NZ (including the introduced species found wild in this country). Sounds like a lot, but 85 of those are parrots (a whopping 42.5% of the total), about 45 are finches, 19 are gamebirds, 15 are pigeons, and about 15 are waterfowl -- and all of those are actually avicultural subjects that zoos just happen to also display here and there. Of the exotic birds that only zoos can keep (due to licence issues etc), there are just six species in the country (king penguin, gentoo penguin, Australian pelican, greater flamingo, brolga, tawny frogmouth) at just five collections; and if you take out the Kelly Tarlton penguins and Auckland flamingos that leaves a grand total of just eight individual birds (one pelican, one frogmouth and six brolgas - and the pelican and frogmouth are both old birds that won't be round for more than another couple of years)!!! How pathetic a statistic is that?!

I'm putting together a little bit to add on about the best NZ collections for birds; will be finished when I have some more time in the next couple of days.

 

finished a little bit quicker than I'd expected: my picks for best bird collections. Others can chime in with their opinions (i.e. zooboy28 and NZ Jeremy), especially given that I don't get up to the North Island much.

SOUTH ISLAND:
Rather depressingly, the best collection of exotic birds in the South Island is at the Dunedin Botanic Gardens where there is a very good aviary complex housing a lot of different parrot, finch and pigeon species (all of which come from private aviculturists, but relatively few of which can be seen in other public collections). There are also native parrots here (kea, South Island kaka, and some Cyanoramphus).

For native birds the best South Island collection by a long shot is Willowbank Wildlife Reserve in Christchurch, both in terms of species and (generally-speaking) in the way they are displayed. Species here include takahe, Campbell and Auckland Island teal, NZ falcon, kea, kaka, red- and yellow-crowned kakariki, NZ pigeon, morepork, North Island brown kiwi, at least two subspecies of weka, and many others. They are also one of the main participants in the Operation Nest Egg project (ONE) for Haast kiwi, Okarito kiwi and great spotted kiwi (public viewing tours of the incubation and rearing rooms enable possible views of these species, depending on what is there at the time). There are some exotic birds also, but the most unusual amongst them are blue and gold macaws and Himalayan monals (in other words, not very exciting)

Orana Park used to have a reasonably good collection of exotic birds (albeit mostly common species) in its first decade or so but they got phased out. Now they just have some childrens' playground birds (chickens, budgies, etc), ostrich, emu, and a few parrots. The native section is reasonably good, and includes a very big walk-though "forest" aviary and a walk-though kea aviary; interesting species include brown teal, blue duck, Antipodes Island parakeet and North Island saddleback.

The Queenstown Kiwi Birdlife Park also has a good but small collection of native birds including North Island brown kiwi and (when I was last there) black stilt.

NORTH ISLAND:
For exotics, Wellington Zoo has always been best but fairly recently it has taken a complete nose-dive. When I was last there (in 2008) I made some rather disparaging comments about their once-great "Bird Valley" where species like bantams and magpies were being used as space-fillers in aviaries where once noisy pittas, ibis and Nicobar pigeons had lived. They have the last pelican and frogmouth in NZ, and one of the few brolgas. The complete bird list for the zoo in 2008 was as follows (and this is one of the major zoos in the country):
ostrich
emu
North Island brown kiwi
Australian pelican
little pied shag
banded rail
brolga
white heron (great white egret)
Himalayan monal
golden pheasant
bantam
NZ scaup
Campbell Island teal
mandarin duck
Australian shelduck
Cape Barren goose
Derbyan parrot
sun conure
red-fronted macaw
North Island kaka
kea
red-tailed black cockatoo
Leadbeater's (pink, or Major Mitchell's) cockatoo
greater sulphur-crested cockatoo
NZ pigeon
Australian crested pigeon
emerald dove (green-winged pigeon)
tawny frogmouth
morepork
common kookaburra
Australian magpie

Their native bird collection isn't much to speak of, but will presumably improve once they finish the upcoming "Meet The Locals" development.

I've never been to Hamilton Zoo but they have a pair of brolgas. Going by their website they seem to have a good selection of other stuff including Moluccan (salmon-crested) cockatoos, eclectus, yellow-bibbed lory, Australian shelduck, Himalayan monal and bleeding heart pigeon. This zoo may actually be better for exotics overall than Wellington Zoo is now. The native section also looks promising (there's a big walk-through aviary), with species including kokako, Antipodes Island parakeet, banded rail and NZ falcon.

Auckland Zoo has had some nice birds in the past but now the most exotic species are the flamingo flock (which, it must be said, are the most exotic bird in NZ zoos) and a breeding pair of brolgas. There is only a small range of exotic birds otherwise and they are mostly parrots and pheasants. The native section has always been reasonably good, including also a big walk-through forest aviary. With the completion of the upcoming project Te Wao Nui it should improve considerably.

Franklin Zoo recently received a brolga from Hamilton Zoo but in terms of exotic species all other collections in the North Island are pretty standard, although because most are privately-run zoos they often have a far better range of parrots etc (they generally don't have access to more exotic stock and most don't have actual zoo licences and so cannot display anything that isn't available to private holders anyway - exceptions being places like Franklin, Brooklands and Pouakai which, while not having "zoo birds", do have "zoo mammals" such as monkeys and tigers)

For native birds, the best would have to be Otorohanga Kiwi House and Native Bird Park. Apart from being the only place anywhere to have little spotted and great spotted kiwi on display (as well as North Island brown kiwi), they also have a wide range of other native species including kokako, NZ falcon, blue duck, kea, kaka, black stilt, Antipodes Island parakeet, Campbell Island teal, etc. Definitely a must-see if native birds are what you're after.

The National Wildlife Centre at Mt. Bruce is in second-place. This is a DoC-operated breeding centre that is also open to the public (in contrast, Otorohanga is privately-owned). The number of species isn't great because the emphasis is on breeding specific species for conservation purposes - its not a bird garden - but species here include kokako, stitchbird, takahe, etc. I wrote a piece on it in 2008: http://www.zoochat.com/17/national-wildlife-centre-mt-bruce-13759/

Nga Manu - http://www.zoochat.com/17/nga-manu-nature-reserve-13760/ -and Staglands are also quite good for natives. For wild natives, Karori Wildlife Sanctuary (aka Zealandia) deserves a mention. A valley in the middle of Wellington city has been fenced off, predators removed, and birds introduced. Species include brown teal, kaka, stitchbird, saddleback, takahe, etc.