Kereru
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| Kereru Conservation status: Lower risk (nt) | ||||||||||||||
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| Hemiphaga novaeseelandiae (Gmelin, 1789) |
The Kereru or New Zealand Pigeon (Hemiphaga novaeseelandiae novaeseelandiae) is a bird endemic to New Zealand and the Chatham Islands. Other Maori names for it are the Kukupa or Kuku, particularly in Northland Region, and Parea on the Chathams.
It is sometimes described as a woodpigeon, but it is in fact the only member of the unrelated pigeon genus Hemiphaga (Bonaparte, 1854).
The Kereru is herbivorous, primarily eating fruit from native trees. It plays an important ecological role, as it is the only bird capable of eating the largest native drupes and thus spreading the seeds. Its head, throat, and wings are a shiny green-purple colour, its breast is typically white, and its bill red. The Kereru makes an occasional soft coo sound (hence the onomatopoeic names), and its wings make a very distinctive whooshing sound as it flies.
It nests in trees, laying a single egg which is incubated for 28 days. The young bird then takes another 36 days to fledge.