All the pictures are from my trip to New Zealand last May. Despite a pretty dire ecological situation New Zealanders are making valiant efforts to preserve some of their biological diversity.
First a brief background. New Zealand shares several features with the Hawaiian archipelago. Both are highly isolated from other land masses and have a highly unique flora and fauna. Both were colonized relatively recently (in the grand scheme of things) by Polynesian peoples who caused some extinctions and a small number of species introductions. Then they were colonized by Europeans who completely altered the habitat of virtually all non-mountainous portions of each place. Many species have become extinct or isolated in small areas.
Before the arrival of Europeans there were no land mammals on New Zealand except for two bat species. All larger mammals were marine like this New Zealand Fur Seal.
The British colonists found a land that was highly similar to Great Britain in terms of climate but lacked the familiar plants and animals of the English countryside. So the brought them over and today a lot of New Zealand is dominated by introduced species. Some native species have thrived in the altered environment such as this lapwing and the pukkeko. (In the interests of honesty I will confess that both of these pictures were taken in Australia but both of these species are quite common in New Zealand).
However many other species were not so lucky. Some had gone extinct before the arrival of the Europeans such as the Moa and the Haast Eagle
Many others either went extinct or became very rare because inability to complete with introduced species. However in recent decades there have been valiant attempts to preserve bits of the native biota.
Some species are restricted to the mountains, largely because there has been less habitat alteration. The Takahe is a giant flightless rail that may have once occurred through all of NZ. It was originally thought to have gone extinct in the 1800s but was rediscovered in the 1930s in a remote mountain area. These individuals are in a 'zoo' and efforts are being made to introduce them to other safe locations.
What are the safe locations - they are offshore islands and restored enclosed preserves. New Zealand has many small offshore islands, some of which have never had problems with introduced predators and others have had, with great effort, all their predators removed. Many are off limits to visitors such as Codfish Island where all the Kakapo (Owl Parrots) left in the world were moved. One that is accessible is Ulva Island, a small island in a Sound, largely enclosed by Stewart Island, a large island off the southern tip of the South Island.
Ulva has had minimal human impact and great efforts have been made to remove any mice that were on the island. You are asked to check your belongings for mice before getting on the boat. The native forest is largely as it was centuries ago.
There plants found there are very different even from what you can see in the forest of Stewart Island just a few miles away
Unfortunately the weather was miserable while we were there so I didn't get very many photos. We did get glimpses of quite a few birds as they darted through the forest in the rain but very few photos. Here is the Stewart Island form of the New Zealand Robin and the Weka, a type of rail. Both ridiculously tame.
Trapping goes on continuously on Ulva and other places to ensure an introduced predator free environment. This trap was in the forest near a shearwater/penguin breeding area on Stewart Island.
A week or so later we visited a reserve in a very different environment, suburban Wellington. The Korari reserve was built by walling off a valley. The wall is very elaborate and designed to prevent all introduced species from getting over, under, or through it (doesn't work for birds obviously). Trapping goes on inside to make sure all mammals are removed.
Here is the wall
Here is the valley
Lots of good birds there - been again not much cooperation from the weather or the birds. Here is another robin - they were always cooperative.
And a weta - a giant relative of crickets
And, best of all a tuatara - an ancient and unique reptile
Karori has been very successful at maintaining populations of native birds and they are now spreading into nearby neighborhoods.