Past Conferences and Abstracts

The 2023 New Zealand Bird Conference and Birds NZ AGM was held in New Plymouth from 3-5 June. It was a significant and memorable event, with nearly 200 people gathering to discuss all things birds. Attendees were impressed by the high quality of presentations, including plenary talks by Dan Burgin on the final year of the NZ Bird Atlas and from Deidre Koolen-Bourke about the Wildlife Act reform. Presentations covered avian physiology, conservation monitoring, restoring seabird populations, impacts of marine heatwaves and heavy metal pollutants, the use of genomics for conservation, and much more across a range of bird species and habitats.

A Robert Falla Memorial Award was presented to Elizabeth Bell for her distinguished service to the society, including 13 years as Secretary of the Records Appraisal Committee and 30 years of black petrel research and conservation. One Meritorious Service Award and several Notornis and Conference awards were also presented. Two student members were sponsored through the Fledgling Fund and articles on their conference experience will be available soon. A list of all awards and recipients can be viewed here

For abstracts from previous conferences please scroll down. View more conference photos here. DRAFT Minutes of the 2023 AGM can be downloaded here