New Zealand Birds Online: A year on, our favourite bird revealed?
6 June 2014
New Zealand Birds Online has celebrated its first anniversary! In the twelve months since the site went live, 264,000 have visited to learn more about Aotearoa’s 461 bird species, and to identify those they’ve spotted frolicking in our gardens, beaches, mountains and forests.
The most-visited bird on the site could be called New Zealand’s ‘favourite’, and you might be surprised to learn that it is not one of our five kiwi species, or even all of them put together. The most-visited bird had 14,969 views, 6000 more than its nearest rival. It is boisterous, medium-sized, very vocal, and while it looks black from a distance, it has a blue, green and bronze iridescent sheen in good light. If you haven’t guessed yet, its white throat tufts may give it away – it’s the tūī!
Given that tūī, and the other top seven birds, are commonly seen in or near New Zealand’s major cities, it may be that more people visit the site to learn about the birds they see around them. The major city with the highest visitors per capita was Wellington – where tūī, and the fifth most-viewed bird, the kākā, are found in high numbers.
However the town that topped the list for the highest number of visitors to the website is Queenstown, with an astonishing 116 views per 1000 residents. It is likely this is to do with the number of international tourists wanting to know more about New Zealand birds.
You can read more about New Zealand Birds Online in the blogs of the site’s Project Manager and Editor, Colin Miskelly:
New Zealand Birds Online website
Media contact
Cherie McQuilkin
cherie.mcquilkin@tepapa.govt.nz
029 601 0180