Whether you call them kererū, kūkū or kukupa, you can find the New Zealand Pigeon (Hemiphaga novaeseelandiae) all over central Tāmaki. Most sighting are around our larger green spaces – Maungawhau (Mt Eden), Ōwairaka (Mt Albert), Western Springs Park, Auckland Domain – but they’ll also visit gardens if you’re lucky. We’re so used to seeing them individually or in pairs that it is easy to forget that they naturally form flocks.
The Forest & Bird 2018 Bird of the Year, plays an important part in dispersing the fruits of native species – tawa, pūriri, karaka, five-finger and porokaiwhiri / pigeonwood – so we want to encourage them. The Kererū Discovery website has lots of other good advice on helping kererū, include a list of suitable plants to put in your garden.
- Visit New Zealand Birds Online for more on kererū.
- Read Auckland Council’s Urban kererū (PDF, 660.10 kB) leaflet.
- Help kererū avoid crashing into your windows by applying stickers which kererū can see but humans can’t. Visit projectkereru.org.nz to buy.
- and remember that being drunk isn’t funny, except when it is a kererū gorging on fermented fruit…