New Zealand birding information on the net

Identification help and bird calls

New Zealand Birds Online: A comprehensive encyclopaedia of New Zealand birds. Features ‘Identify that bird’ photographic key, detailed bird lists (including ticklists) for over 150 localities, thousands of photos and sound files, and extracts from six core New Zealand bird texts.

Xeno-canto Australasia: A community database of shared bird sounds from Australasia and the Pacific.

Organisations

Birds New Zealand (The Ornithological Society of New Zealand): New Zealand’s national bird study organisation. The Birds New Zealand journal Notornis is available online, with full access for OSNZ members, and issues more than 3 years old freely available to all.

Birds New Zealand administers the official rare birds recording scheme. The Records Appraisal Committee (RAC) formally assesses and verifies sightings of rare and unusual birds in the NZ region. Please post bird sightings in the BirdingNZ discussion forum, so others have a chance to see them. Then, submit your sightings of reportable rare birds to the RAC using the online Unusual Birds Reporting Form, so the record can be formally recorded (and you get the credit). You can search previously submitted records in the online database.

Department of Conservation: The New Zealand government agency responsible for the protection of New Zealand’s natural heritage. DOC’s National Banding Office coordinates bird banding (ringing) in NZ. If you see a banded bird, report it here.

Tour operators

Albatross Encounter, Kaikoura: Pelagic bird tours off the Kaikoura Peninsula.

Driftwood Eco-tours: Bird watching and eco-tours throughout Marlborough.

Okarito Kiwi Tours: Low-impact, low-key personalised guiding trips into the Tai Poutini National Park to see Okarito brown kiwi (rowi).

Petrel Colony Tours: Guided tours to the only breeding grounds of the Westland petrel (Procellaria westlandica), the largest mainland burrow-nesting petrel. Close views can be obtained from a walkway and viewing shelter.

The Petrel Station Pelagic Seabird Tours, Tutukaka: One of the world’s best full-day pelagic seabird tours with a stunning diversity of seabirds species recorded. Leaving from Tutukaka, in northern New Zealand, these trips operate throughout the year. Tours are run in conjunction with a long-term at-sea sightings research project.

Wrybill Birding Tours, NZ: 21-day New Zealand-wide tours and customised birding information, small groups with experienced leaders. Great Birds, Real Birders.

Checklists

iNaturalistNZ: An Online recording system for all your NZ bird sightings (and other animals, plants and fungi). iNaturalistNZ is run by the New Zealand Bio-Recording Network Trust to provide a New Zealand portal into the global iNaturalist system.

New Zealand eBird: The New Zealand front to Cornell’s eBird system to record and view your NZ bird observations.

Other groups and sites of interest