New Zealand Pigeon

The New Zealand Pigeon, known widely by its Maori name kereru, is one of the largest pigeons in the world and among the most visually striking birds in New Zealand's forests. Its head, neck, and upperparts shimmer with iridescent green, bronze, and purple in the light, while the breast and belly are a clean, contrasting white.

Kereru have a heavy, direct flight with audible whooshing wingbeats, and their bulk allows them to swallow large native fruits whole that no other surviving New Zealand bird can manage, making them essential seed dispersers for trees such as karaka, taraire, and miro. Once heavily hunted, they are now fully protected, and their calm, unhurried presence in forest canopies and increasingly in urban gardens makes them a much-loved sight.

Key field marks

• Large, bulky pigeon shape, notably bigger than introduced pigeons and doves
• Iridescent green-bronze-purple head, neck, and upperparts
• Sharply contrasting pure white breast and belly
• Red bill with an orange tip, and red legs
• Loud, whooshing wingbeats in flight

Similar species

• No other New Zealand bird approaches its combination of large size, iridescent green upperparts, and white breast; introduced Rock Pigeons and doves are smaller, greyer, and lack the metallic sheen.

Range

Found throughout the North, South, and Stewart Islands of New Zealand wherever suitable forest remains, plus a distinct, now very rare subspecies (the Chatham Island Pigeon or parea) on the Chatham Islands.

Habitat

Inhabits native forest of many types, from lowland broadleaf-podocarp forest to beech forest, and increasingly forages in urban parks and gardens with fruiting or flowering trees near forest remnants.

Migration

Generally sedentary but makes local nomadic movements tracking the fruiting and flowering of key food trees, sometimes concentrating temporarily where food is abundant.

Behavior

Usually seen alone or in pairs perched conspicuously in the canopy, or in loose aggregations at abundant fruiting trees; flight is powerful and direct with characteristic loud wingbeats, and birds sometimes perform swooping display flights.

Voice

A soft, low "kuu" or coo, along with the distinctive whooshing sound of its wings in flight, which often announces its presence before it is seen.

Feeding

Feeds on fruit, leaves, buds, and flowers, and is uniquely able among surviving New Zealand birds to swallow very large native fruits whole, making it a critical disperser of seeds for several large-fruited native trees.

Nesting

Builds a flimsy platform nest of twigs in a tree; the female lays a single white egg, and both parents share incubation and later feed the chick a nutrient-rich crop secretion known as "pigeon milk."