Essential to the New Zealand experience is the unique sound of the beautiful song birds heard in forests, hills and backyards all over the country. It's a melodious chorus that - with 73 of New Zealand’s native bird species on the World Conservation Union’s 'red list' of threatened species - must be protected.
Isolated for around 80 million years, New Zealand became a paradise for birds; some, in the absence of predators, developing unusual and interesting characteristics. Plus other animals.
One of New Zealand’s rarest birds has surprised conservationists by breeding within months of their release on Mana Island, off Wellington’s west coast.