Birding in New Zealand - Tea Towel

These were fun quick, loose sketches with hand written notes done as a sketchbook/journal type style that you would do when out watching birds in New Zealand.

Vintage inspired art print of coloured sketches and information about birds you could see when birding in NZ, including Auckland Island Pipit, North Island Fernbird, NZ Tomtit, Brown Creeper, Yellow Crowned Parakeet and North Island Kokako.

This journaling bird study artwork was hand drawn in black pen and then water coloured.

Birds featured:

Auckland Island Pipit – Anthus novaeseelandiae aucklandicus

• The New Zealand pipit is a small brown-and-white songbird that resembles a lark, but has longer legs, and walks rather than hops. They are birds of open country, including the tideline of sandy beaches, rough pasture, river beds and above the tree-line. Pipits are members of the wagtail family, and frequently flick their long tails as they walk.

North Island Fernbird – Mātātā – Poodytes punctatus

• More often heard than seen, fernbirds are skulking sparrow-sized, well-camouflaged birds that on the three main islands are found mainly in dense, low wetland vegetation. They have disappeared from large areas of New Zealand, including Wairarapa, Wellington and Canterbury, but remain common on the West Coast and in pockets of suitable habitat from Northland to Stewart Island. Fernbirds occupy drier shrubland and tussock habitat at a few sites, including in the Far North and on some islands.

NZ Tomtit – Miromiro – Petroica macrocephala

• The tomtit is a forest and shrubland inhabiting species of both native and no-native habitats. It is rarely seen in highly modified open habitats, such as farmland and suburbia. Tomtits have a widespread distribution through the North and South Islands, and occur on some of their offshore islands, Stewart Island, Chatham Islands, Snares Islands and Auckland Islands. Most populations are dimorphic, males being mainly black-and-white, and females mainly brown-and-white. They are often heard giving contact calls or males singing, but are sometimes difficult to see. Individuals can be quite confiding, coming within a few meters.

Brown Creeper – Pīpipi – Mohoua novaeseelandiae

• Brown creepers are found in a wide range of forested and shrubland habitats throughout the South Island and Stewart Island. Often the first sign is a large chattering flock high in the forest canopy. They can be attracted down by squeaking or pishing, but do not stay long as the flock moves on through the canopy. Once sighted the grey face and buff underparts are distinctive.

Yellow Crowned Parakeet – Kākāriki – Cyanoramphus auriceps

• Yellow-crowned parakeets are small, bright green, noisy parrots that spend most of their time high in the forest canopy. They were once extremely common throughout New Zealand, but today are rare or uncommon in most places on the mainland, though they are still common on some predator-free islands and in a few valleys in eastern Fiordland and west Otago.

North Island Kōkako – Callaeas wilsoni

• With their extraordinary haunting song, and obscure evolutionary relationships to other birds. Kōkako evoke the forests of ancient New Zealand/Aotearoa perhaps more than any other species. More likely to be heard than seen. North Island kokako have persisted in small populations particularly in the central North Island from the King Country through to Te Urewera. They typically inhabit tall native forest dominated by tawa (Beilschmiedia tawa), singing from tree-tops but often feeding in understorey layers.