Home to many endemic as well as migrant bird species, New Zealand is a bird watcher’s paradise. Here you can find some of the most rare and endangered bird species on the planet, as well as get the opportunity to observe many of these birds in their natural environment. For the avid bird watching enthusiast, New Zealand offers bird lovers many organized tours to the country’s bird sanctuaries as well as bird watching excursions in the wild.

Important bird species in New Zealand

The kiwi, which is the country’s national bird, the royal albatross, the kea, the takahe, the yellow-eyed penguin and the tui. The kiwi is the most sought after bird in New Zealand, with tourists flocking here from all over the globe to catch this shy nocturnal creature in action. An endangered species, a great place to see kiwis in the wild is on Stewart Island, otherwise you will find plenty of kiwis to spot in New Zealand’s many sanctuaries and zoos.

The Royal Albatross can be found only in Dunedin, which is where their only colony in the world exists. In September these birds come to Tairoa Head to court one another, breed and lay their eggs.

The kea is a very popular and mischievous bird that lives in the mountains of the South Island. Inquisitive by nature, these parrots have a great personality. Once thought to have died out, the takahe is a flightless bird found in New Zealand. New Zealand is also home to one of the rarest species of penguin in the world, the hoiho or the yellow-eyed penguin.

If you are interested in wildlife watching in New Zealand try and catch sight of the tuatara, which is a lizard that is closely related to the dinosaurs and is one of the oldest reptiles in the world.