Kererū

The beloved – and occasionally tipsy – kererū was Bird of the Year in 2018. Occasionally, they gorge so heavily on fermented fruit that they’ve been known to fall out of trees. They’re one of the only birds in Aotearoa that eat the whole fruit, which makes them useful seed dispersers as they scatter seeds wherever they fly and poop. Up in Te Tai Tokerau, these portly pigeons go by an alternative name: kūkupa.