Since people first arrived in Aotearoa, 59 native bird species have become extinct. Many more are hanging on by the slender thread of intense conservation. Even the relatively abundant ones are mostly absent from central Tāmaki Makaurau.
Most back gardens are populated by introduced species – house sparrows, blackbirds, starlings, song thrushes, mynas, magpies and eastern rosellas. Natives do show up, particularly flocks of tauhou / silvereye along with tūī and pīwakawaka / fantails, followed by riroriro / grey warblers.
In Wellington the presence of Zealandia and a dedicated network of pest control groups has led to a massive resurgence of natives birds over the last decade or so. Auckland is headed the same way, but what can we expect to see?