December 2025 Birds New Zealand magazine published

The December 2025 edition of Birds New Zealand magazine has been published with a cover photo featuring a Kākā feeding on flowering Kōwhai. This summer’s edition includes reports on new research funded by the 2024 Birds New Zealand Research Fund on Long-tailed Cuckoo tracking, Fluttering Shearwater and Spotless Crake monitoring, a repeat nationwide Black-billed Gull survey, the diets of kiwi chicks and Chatham Taiko and Chatham Petrel, and the ecological requirements of Australasian Bittern.

There are also items reporting on new research about Australasian Bittern nutritional stress funded by the David Medway Scholarship, a project monitoring for highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) in Australasian Gannets at Farewell Spit, and a report of a New Zealand Falcon collecting and eating ‘rangle’ stones on the south Wellington coast.

There is an illustrated feature article about a birdwatching trip to the Solomon Islands by Notornis editor Colin Miskelly and the regular ‘A Bird’s Eye View’ column by magazine editor Michael Szabo has a focus on ‘Finding unusual terns’.

There are notices about our 2026 NZ Bird Conference and AGM in Wānaka over King’s Birthday weekend (30 May–1 June), the online publication of the latest edition of our scientific journal Notornis, the upcoming publication of a special issue of Notornis on the NZ Fairy Tern, the digital archiving of Notornis (1939-2025), reports from the 2025 Fledgling Fund recipients, and a call for submissions on the upcoming re-assessment of the conservation status of New Zealand birds.

Other items report on new papers describing five new extinct species of ancient penguins, a possible early bowerbird from ancient New Zealand and a new extinct species of Rēkohu Shelduck. It also includes the regular quarterly reports from Birds New Zealand President Natalie Forsdick and our regional representatives, plus some book reviews.

The link to the low-resolution PDF of the magazine is here: https://www.birdsnz.org.nz/publications/birds-new-zealand-december-2025/

2026 NZ Bird Conference – Registration now open!

The 2026 New Zealand Bird Conference and Birds New Zealand Annual General Meeting will be held in Wānaka from 30th May to 1st June during King’s Birthday weekend. The event will be hosted at the Lake Wānaka Centre.

Conference Details

Abstracts must be submitted by 28 February 2026.
Deadline for early-bird registration is 31 March 2026.

We aim to continue the fine work of previous conferences in making this the premier event for the communication of new research findings about birds in New Zealand, and for providing opportunities for discussion, networking and field trips for professional and amateur ornithologists, students and others who are interested in birds and their habitats. We will be presenting talks on a wide range of topics, and look forward to bringing together researchers and all who are interested to share their knowledge and findings to make this conference a dynamic, informative and memorable event. We look forward to hosting you in Wanaka for a fantastic weekend of birds and birding!

REGISTER NOW

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/