Newsletter / Blog
2012-03-31 Country with the highest percentage of its bird species endangered?
The country with
the highest percentage of its bird species endangered is New Zealand
with 30%
Looking at the
endangered status of New
Zealand birds is an insight into how tenuous
their existence is. Nine birds are 'critically endangered'.
The Black
Robin or Chatham Island Robin -Petroica traverse - is an
endangered bird from the Chatham Islands off the east coast of New Zealand. The
black robin was the world's rarest bird, and is New Zealand's comeback hero from
the brink of extinction. Extinction could not have been any closer in
1980 when there was one female named Old Blue and her breeding partner and
three other males, but the black robin has been brought back to a population of
about 254.
The Black Stilt or Kakī - Himantopus
novaezelandiae - is endemic to New Zealand.
Kaki is a wading
bird, with all black plumage and long skinny red legs. When Europeans
settled, kaki were common throughout the country's rivers and wetlands.
As rivers were channelised and wetlands drained, and introduced predators
spread, their total number dwindled to a low of 23 by 1981. Kaki are now
restricted to the rivers and wetlands of the Mackenzie
Basin in South
Canterbury. They have been intensely managed since 1981, and
captive breeding and release has increased the population. |