The kererū is our only native pigeon. Officially called the New Zealand pigeon, Hemiphaga novaeseelandiae, in Māori it is the kererū, kūkū, or kukupa (as it is known in Northland) - are evocative of the bird’s soft, rarely heard ‘kuu’.

The once superabundant kererū has declined dramatically over most of its range, starting 1000 years ago and particularly in the last 200, due to hunting, habitat loss, and predators.

Good populations still exist in Northland, the King Country, Nelson, and the West Coast, and smaller groups occur elsewhere in the country. But the total population is a tiny fraction of what it was before people arrived.

Kererū are very important to their habitat. They can open their mouths exceptionally wide, making them the only birds capable of swallowing the large fruit of trees such as miro and karaka. Kererū store these fruit in their crops (a muscular pouch near the throat), and the seed is eventually pushed through the gut largely untouched, making them very important for seed dispersal.

After millions of years of evolution, some tree seeds do not germinate well without being eaten by a kererū. Sometimes fruit ferments in the crop, causing birds to become intoxicated, even falling off their perches. Although comical, this behaviour has made them easy prey for predators and hunters.