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Seen a tui, parea, penguin or goose? |
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The Department of Conservation is keen to hear about sightings of
parea, tui, crested penguins and Canada geese on the Chatham Islands.
If you have any sightings of the birds listed below phone the DOC
office on (3050 098), use the sightings form below. send us an email,
or call into the DOC office and mark your sightings on our map.
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Parea |
Parea (Chatham Island pigeon)
Parea have been increasing in both numbers and range in recent
years due to forest recovery, possum and cat control, and are slowly
moving north. We've heard of some interesting sightings of parea from
a number of sites and we're keen to hear of any sightings north of
Point Durham. A date, place and number of birds would be great. Any
observations of what they're feeding on would be good too.
Tui
Tui disappeared from Chatham Island during the 1980s and were
until recently confined to Pitt, Rangatira and Mangere Islands,
although individuals were occasionally seen on Chatham Island. The
Taiko Trust has recently returned tui to Chatham Island and we're
interested in any sightings of these birds (which are colour banded) or
of any other birds around Chatham Island. Sightings of colour-banded
birds on Pitt Island are also useful.
Crested penguins
Crested penguins come ashore to moult between January and March.
Sometimes they can come ashore in places where they are vulnerable to
dogs. If they are underweight and/or are disturbed too much they
are unlikey to survive the 3-week moult process. If you see one try
and move it to a safe place (such as a bouldery beach or in some scrub)
or contact DOC.
There are four species of crested penguin (the ones with yellow
eyebrows) that periodically visit the Chatham Islands. They can be hard
to identify and a digital photo (side-on head shot) is useful in
identifying the species. Again, we're keen to hear of any sightings.
Canada geese
Canada geese are of similar size to the domestic goose but with a
distinctive black neck and head with a white stripe on each
cheek. Their chest and body are pale and the tops of the wings are
grey. They have been periodic visitors to the Chathams. As they are
agricultural pests in parts of mainland New Zealand, we're interested
in knowing what they're up to here.
Other unusual birds
We are always interested to hear about sightings of unusual birds, or birds in unusual places.
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Tui
Erect-crested penguin
Canada goose
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Report your bird sighting
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Record bird sightings 
