The Kereru, or New Zealand Native Pigeon is a beautiful, fat, clumsy bird that I love. Here are 9 facts about this common New Zealand bird.
My son and I recently took part in the Great Kereru Count in New Zealand. This was a week long period when people all across the country kept track of the birds they saw. On our first hike we scored and saw 5 of them right near the trailhead! We watched one of them perched on a small limb of a pine tree for about 5 minutes as it walked around. I always kind of laugh to myself when I see them. They just seem too fat and clumsy to be flying in a forest or sitting on a small limb of a tree.
9 Kereu (New Zealand Native Pigeon) Facts
The Kereru is a common bird that is endemic to New Zealand. This means that it can’t be found anywhere else in the world. Another name sometimes used for this bird is the New Zealand Pigeon or Wood Pigeon.
There are two good ways to recognize this bird. If you see it in a forest you can’t mistake its large size and coloring of iridescent green head and white breast. However, even if you don’t see it the sound it makes when flying is quite unique. The flapping of its wings is heavy sounding as it cruises through or above the forest. Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh.
This is a relatively large bird, measuring about 51 cm long. That is big compared to common pigeons that you find in North America or Europe (rock pigeon) which measure around 30 – 35 cms.
Kereru live naturally in native forests. They can now also be found in urban gardens and parks.
Kereru are known for an awesome flight display during breeding time. They can breed throughout the entire year, but the peak seems to be between October and January. During breeding a bird will fly up very high and then stall and drop down like a rock in a swooping pattern.
They play a very important role in the survival of many of New Zealand’s native trees. Due to extinctions of other large birds, they are now the only native bird that is able to eat the large fruit of many native trees, including taraire and karaka. This means they are the only birds able to spread the seeds of these native trees.
These birds can live up to 21 or more years. However, they actually only live for an average of 5 years due to predators, cars, or flying into windows!
Luckily for an endemic bird of New Zealand they are now not endangered or threatened. 20 years ago they were listed as a threatened species, but their population has gradually increased. They are now somewhat common throughout the country. Almost 19,000 birds were counted by people during the Great Kereru count of 2018 that we participated in!
The Kereru was voted by ordinary people to be the bird of the year for 2018!