Australasian Ornithological Conference 2025 – in Perth

BirdLife Australia and Birds New Zealand are pleased to announce that the 13th Australasian Ornithological Conference (AOC) will be held in Boorloo/Perth, 18-20 November 2025. For details and online registration visit https://aoc.org.au/.

Early Bird registration closes on 26 September 2025. The deadline for abstract submission has been extended and will now close on 27 June – for details visit https://aoc.org.au/call-for-abstracts/. Don’t miss out on presenting your work at this premier bird science event!

Birds New Zealand are pleased to support students travelling from New Zealand to present at this conference with AOC Student Travel Grants.

This will be the largest biennial gathering of enthusiastic amateur and professional ornithologists and avian researchers from Australasia, New Zealand and beyond!

2025 NZ Garden Bird Survey

The 2025 NZ Garden Bird Survey runs from 28 June to 6 July! This annual survey, run by Landcare Research and supported by Birds New Zealand, started in 2007 to study the distribution and population trends of our common garden birds. By participating you will help build a picture of how native and introduced birds are faring in our gardens, indicate which species may be in decline and guide future conservation efforts. Make our birds count!

For details visit gardenbirdsurvey.nz/. For bird identification and calls visit nzbirdsonline.org.nz.

Our Changing World: Getting ready for H5N1 bird flu

Highly pathogenic H5N1 bird flu has been around since the 1990s, but the current bird flu pandemic started in Asia in 2020, when a low pathogenic strain mutated into a high pathogenic strain called H5N1 2.3.4.4b. Read more about this on the RNZ news story: https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/ourchangingworld/564326/our-changing-world-getting-ready-for-h5n1-bird-flu

New Council Member – Nic Rawlence

I grew up in Nelson and Golden Bay surrounded by birds above ground and the bones of extinct birds in caves below ground. I spent much of my childhood in the outdoors amongst nature and sailing in Tasman Bay. Every family road trip was a lesson in natural history, geology, palaeontology, and history, something that I’ve continued with my kids.

After completing a degree in Biomedical Science at Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand’s birds beckoned and I embarked on a Masters research project focusing on the evolutionary history of kakariki. I spent many weekends on Mana and Matiu Somes Island, and conducted fieldwork in the subantarctic and at the Kermadec Islands, experiences that I will never forget. A PhD at the University of Adelaide followed where I used ancient DNA and palaeontology to reconstruct the diet and plumage of New Zealand’s extinct moa, as well as investigating the impacts of climate and habitat change through time on these giant birds.

In 2013 my wife and I made the move to back to New Zealand where I established the Otago Palaeogenetics Lab at the University of Otago. My lab reconstructs what New Zealand’s ecosystems were like from hundreds of years to tens of millions of years ago; how our unique living and extinct birds (and other animals) responded to our dynamic geological, climatic and human history; and how we can use that information for evidence-based conservation management.

I passionately believe in science communication, and regularly provide expert commentary in all forms of media from print to radio and television, even busting a few myths now and then.

For contact details of current Council members refer to https://www.birdsnz.org.nz/contact/

Notornis – June edition published

The latest issue of Notornis (Volume 72, Part 2, June 2025) has been published and is available via the Current Quarterly Publications page, or click on the links below.

FULL ISSUE:

Notornis Volume 72 Part 2

PAPERS:
The mysterious Miss Rebecca Stone and her collection of birds from Hokianga, 1842: a window into early ornithology in Aotearoa New Zealand

Changes in the bird community of Auckland Domain’s urban forest between 1987 and 2020

Records of petrels (families Oceanitidae and Procellariidae) in the Cook Islands, 1970 to present

Dispersal of invasive Berberis glaucocarpa in secondary forest occurs mainly by exotic frugivores

GPS tracker trial on kea (Nestor notabilis) at Aoraki/Mount Cook National Park

Birds observed and collected by the Austrian Novara Expedition when in New Zealand, 1858–1859

SHORT NOTES:
First record of Kermadec petrel (Pterodroma neglecta) near the New Zealand mainland

New Zealand pipit (pīhoihoi, Anthus novaeseelandiae) preying on a gecko

First record of Horsfield’s bronze-cuckoo (Chrysococcyx basalis) in New Zealand

Breeding success of northern New Zealand dotterel (tūturiwhatu, Anarhynchus obscurus aquilonius) and variable oystercatcher (tōrea pango, Haematopus unicolor) at an Auckland coastal site 2018–2025

Monitoring endemic forest birds on Atuanui/Mount Auckland between and within years

June Birds New Zealand magazine published

The June 2025 Birds New Zealand magazine has been published with a cover photo featuring a Pukunui Southern New Zealand Dotterel taken by Oscar Thomas. This edition contains the results of the 2024/25 nationwide Royal Spoonbill colony and nest survey, and the latest Southern New Zealand Dotterel survey.

There is also news of the translocation of Little Spotted Kiwi to Brook Waimarama Sanctuary and Orange-fronted Kakariki to Anchor Island, and of Kakapo booming on the North Island mainland for the first time in almost a century.

It also includes the 2024 annual reports of the Wader Census, Beach Patrol Scheme, Bird Moult Scheme, Nest Monitoring Scheme, and the Records Appraisal Committee, and reports on the OSNZ Specimen Records Project and changes in the way our scientific journal Notornis is produced and published.

It also contains articles on identifying Swamp Harriers and New Zealand Falcons, and on two projects funded by the Birds New Zealand Research Fund to survey shorebirds along Manawatu rivers and study feather moult in North Island Fernbirds.

There is an illustrated feature article on the 2025 Western Pacific Odyssey voyage from New Zealand to Japan, and an article on the regional distribution of birds in Aotearoa New Zealand, both by Oscar Thomas.

There is also news of successful Banded Dotterel protection activities in the Auckland and Hawke’s Bay regions, and short items on Upland Moa, Tieke and Hihi foraging on colourful fungi.

It also includes the regular report of Birds New Zealand President Natalie Forsdick, and the illustrated quarterly reports from all 14 of Birds New Zealand’s regional representatives from the Far North to Southland.

Link to the magazine: https://www.birdsnz.org.nz/publications/birds-new-zealand-magazine-5/

Manawatu Newsletter

Download the latest Manawatu newsletter here

Other recent newsletters from around the regions are available here

Free Book for New Members!

New members of Birds New Zealand now receive a free copy of New Zealand Seabirds – a natural history by Kerry-Jayne Wilson!

Valued at $50 and published in 2021 it has 136 pages, including over 100 colour photos and maps. Please note the offer applies while stocks last and excludes overseas and family subscriptions.

Join now and get your free copy: https://www.birdsnz.org.nz/membership/

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Get updates on the results of new bird research, seasonal tips on birds to watch out for and how to improve your ornithological and birding skills, and ways to get involved with our regular surveys and field trips. 

Link to: https://www.birdsnz.org.nz/sign-up-for-e-newsletter/#!form/eNewsletterSignUp