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Kereru Aotearoa's Wood Pigeon

Kereru are well known for their love of berries, especially when they are very ripe or fermented. This can have some interesting effects! Recently their fame spread to the UK .... Why were they so amused?.... Have a look at the video below!

Kereru are widespread through Aotearoa, from Northland to Stewart Island, and on some offshore islands that have suitable ngahere.

The beautiful Kereru with its iridescent green, blue and plum plumes, defies gravity when it launches itself into flight!

The Great Kererū Count is NZ’s biggest citizen science project. It helps gather information on the abundance and distribution of the Kereru — also known as kūkū or kūkupa. Learn how to join the Great Kereru Count 2020, https://www.greatkererucount.nz/coming/

Kereru's ample frame made it very popular in the days when people were allowed to hunt them. In winter, Māori hunters would set traps and hunting platforms in Miro trees to catch Kereru that came to eat the seeds. The birds were so easy to spear or trap after they had fed!

The Kereru is the only bird with a beak large enough to swallow fruit larger than 12mm in diameter and disperse the seeds again whole.

Native trees such as the karaka, taraire, tawa, miro and puriri depend on the kereru to carry their seeds to new areas of ngahere. If Kereru were to become extinct it would spell disaster for our beautiful ngahere.

Kereru droppings show us the range of berry's that they eat!

This has earned them the title 'Gardeners of the Sky'

Karaka berries are a very popular meal!

Kowhai offer the Kereru plenty to eat.

The main threat to Kereru is predation by introduced animals, particularly feral cats, possums, stoats and ship rats, especially when they are nesting.

Enjoy colouring in your own beautiful Kereru! Print from our FaceBook page.

Click on the link below and try out Te Papa's NZ Birds Quiz

Check out Forest and Bird's, Kiwi Conservation Club for fun activities to do at home, click below

Join the Great Kereru Count in September, and next time you are in the ngahere, listen for those amazing wings overhead!

Join Envirohub next week when we learn all about Plastics and how we can help to save our planet with better choices!

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Credits:

Created with images by Andrea Lightfoot - "untitled image" • Andrea Lightfoot - "untitled image"