Many different birds live in our gardens. Some are native birds – originally from New Zealand and some are not. Papa Atawhai - the Department of Conservation or DoC as it is known to most of us, has a webpage dedicated to native New Zealand Birds. Note – though not on the page, seagulls are native to New Zealand and nearly every country in the world!
iNaturalist NZ have a list of introduced birds of New Zealand. Early settlers brought many of these birds to New Zealand while others seasonally migrate here.
Forest and Bird has some excellent information about how and what to feed the birds that live in your garden.
Hei mahi – things to do
- Explore both the Papa Atawhai New Zealand Native birds webpage and the iNaturalist webpage to see how many recognise or have seen.
- Create a list of birds you see in your garden and around your neighbourhood from these two webpages. Are there more Native birds or introduced Birds on your list?
- Design / draw an ideal habitat (place to live) for birds. What type of birds live here? What do they eat? What other animals might live here?
- Create a list of other animals that are introduced to New Zealand.
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