Te Papa Te Taiao Nature Series: Native Birds of Aotearoa

By Michael Szabo

Publication: October 2022
Pages: 144
Format: Hardback
ISBN: 978-1-99-115094-3

RRP: $27

Buy Native Birds of Aotearoa

Part of the Te Papa Te Taiao Nature Series, this accessible, handsomely illustrated guide to Aotearoa New Zealand’s native bird species has wide appeal.

Native Birds of Aotearoa describes sixty of our most interesting species – forest, garden, wetland, coastal, alpine and marine birds – reflecting the range of subtropical, temperate and subantarctic habitats across our islands.

Written by Birds New Zealand editor, Michael Szabo, and with an introduction by Te Papa Curator Vertebrates, Alan Tennyson, it is published in collaboration with Birds New Zealand. Native Birds includes ornithologist notes on each species and insights into the museum’s fieldwork and collections. Charming original illustrations from the 1930s have been complemented in the same style by illustrator Pippa Keel.

Awards

Tim Denee’s series design was highly commended for the HarperCollins Publishers Award for Best Cover at the PANZ Book Design Awards 2023. The judges’ comments: “This set of book covers for Te Papa have a vintage feel with a contemporary twist. The graphic style works nicely with the size of the book, feeling like a small treasure in the hand. The repeated pattern illustrations and retro colours enable the work of different illustrators to successfully sit alongside each other. The illustrations themselves are beautiful, and perfectly pitched.”

Review highlights

• North & South. “Can be prized as much for their appearance as their contents.”

• Scoop, reviewed by Howard Davis. “Small, but delightful.”

• Birds New Zealand Te Kahui Matai Manu o Aotearoa magazine (No. 35 September 2022), reviewed by Keith Woodley. “A compact and slender hardback, with a pleasing cover design … Anyone with even a passing interest in birds may find this book useful. Among people of all ages, it may spark an interest, serving as a useful introduction. It will also make an excellent gift.”

About the authors

Michael Szabo is editor of Birds New Zealand magazine and a contributor to New Zealand Birds Online. He was the principal author of Wild Encounters – A Forest & Bird guide to discovering NZ’s unique wildlife (2009), and has written for New Scientist, NZ Geographic, and Sunday Star-Times.

Alan Tennyson (Curator Vertebrates Te Papa) researches vertebrate animal groups but his particular expertise is in fossil and living birds. His current research focuses on the history and origins of New Zealand’s animals and the conservation of seabirds in the South Pacific.

About the illustrator

Pippa Keel is an award-winning illustration designer, who has an Honours degree in illustration and a huge love of the outdoors. From her small studio in Wellington, Pippa has worked with a variety of New Zealand-based companies and publishers, including Zealandia Ecosanctuary and Te Papa Press (The Nature Activity Book).

Publication: October 2022
Pages: 144
Format: Hardback
ISBN: 978-1-99-115094-3

RRP: $27
Buy Native Birds of Aotearoa