#1288 · 🐦 birds

New Zealand Pigeon

🇳🇱 Nieuw-Zeelandse Duif ·Hemiphaga novaeseelandiae

LCleast concern 🐦 Birds 📍 outside Europe

7 photos from iNaturalist (Creative Commons) · credits & licences

1. © Christopher Stephens · CC BY-SA 4.0
2. © Tony Stoddard · CC BY-NC 4.0
3. © Andrew Townsend · CC BY-NC 4.0
4. © Brodie Foster · CC BY-NC 4.0
5. © Christian Schwarz · CC BY-NC 4.0
6. © cjmatheson · CC BY-NC 4.0
7. © Saryu Mae 前朝琉 · CC BY 4.0

what is it?

The New Zealand pigeon or kererū ( Hemiphaga novaeseelandiae ) is a bird endemic to New Zealand. Māori call it kererū in most of the country but kūkupa and kūkū in some parts of the North Island, particularly in Northland. Commonly called wood pigeon , they are distinct from the wood pigeon ( Columba palumbus ) of the Northern Hemisphere, which is a member of a different genus.

base stats

NL sightings 0iNaturalist, research grade
worldwide 81,200iNaturalist observations
weight 26.1 gadult, up to
threat LCleast concern

Bars compare against all animals on log scales: up to 300,000 Dutch and 600,000 worldwide sightings (the most-seen species), 150 t (blue whale), 30 m and 400 years (Greenland shark).

fun facts

No confirmed wild sightings in the Netherlands on iNaturalist: you'd have to travel for this one.
81,200 observations worldwide on iNaturalist.
Weighs only about 26 g.
Scientifically named by Johann Friedrich Gmelin in 1789 (237 years ago).