Little Blue Penguin/Fairy Penguin (Kororā)
They are the smallest penguin in the world.
They can be very noisy especially at night they squawk bray, bark, hiss, cheep and growl.
Each penguin has upto 10,000 feathers.
The male and female penguins take turns caring for the chicks.
Little Blue Penguins spend most of their lives in the water ( upto 18hrs ) staying close to their colonies.
Largest colonies in Oamaru, Banks Peninsula on the South Island of New Zealand, Chatham Islands and Phillips Island in Australia as well as some smaller colonies around the coast of New Zealand, South coast of Australia and Tasmania.
Main Threats:
Rats, dogs and cats
Being catch in abandoned fishing nets
Ocean pollution
Less food due to overfishing and climate change
Kākāpō
Kākāpō can claim to hold 3 world records:
They are the world’s only flightless parrot.
Kakapo are the heaviest parrot in the world.
They are also the longest living bird in the world – can live upto 90 years old.
Although Kakapo cannot fly they are good at climbing trees and mainly come out at night (noctural).
They are herbivores which means they only eat plants.
They can only be found now on a few islands near New Zealand: Anchor Island, New Island Codfish Island/Whenua Hou, and Te Hauturu-o-Toi/Little Barrier Island.
Before humans arrived, there were lots of kākāpō living throughout New Zealand but now there are only about 202 Kākāpō left.
Main threats:
Over hunting
Introduction of new predators such as rats, cats and dogs and stoats by humans when they arrived in New Zealand.
Loss of habitat – lost their homes.
Northern Royal Albatross (Toroa)
The average Northern Royal Albatross wingspan is about 3 metres about the length of a tiger.
It is one of the largest seabird in the world.
They can fly fast – more than 112 kilometres per hour.
They can travel very long distances over land and sea – as much as 190,000 kilometres every year – using the wind to help it travel.
The Northern Royal Albatross can spend months flying by itself at sea, without touching land.
The Albatross can live over 40 years.
They like to eat squid, fish and crustaceans.
The Northern Royal Albatross only breeds in New Zealand mainly on The Sisters and the Forty Fours Islands in the Chatham Islands and at Taiaroa near Dunedin on the South Island of New Zealand.
They lay a single egg every 2 years in the same place every time and the baby albatross’s parents stay together for life.
Main Threats:
Warming temperatures due to climate change
Changes in their habitat due tp humans and warming temperatures
Kea
The Kea is the world’s only alpine parrot.
They are very clever and curious creatures and can even do logic puzzles such as pushing and pulling things in a certain order to get to food.
The kea’s beak is long and curved. The males beak is about 4.5 – 5 cms long and the females about 1/2 cm smaller. Their beak helps them to dig grubs from rotten logs and roots from the ground.
Māori named Kea after the sound of their call.
Wild kea only exist in and around the alpine areas of the South Island of New Zealand.
Kea usually nest in cavities among large boulders, logs or tree roots, close to the upper limit of beech forests.
Kea like to live in groups.
Main threats:
Predators introduced when people came to New Zealand such as stoats, rats, cats, dogs and possums – who feed on the kea eggs and disturb the nests.
Human activity