- Conservation status
- In serious trouble
Ngutu pare are the only birds worldwide with a laterally curved bill! They use these bendy bills to probe for insect larvae under stones on the braided riverbeds in Waitaha Canterbury and Ōtākou Otago where they breed. The peculiar bill is also useful on North Island tidal flats where birds spend most of the year.
Both adults, chicks and eggs are superbly camouflaged amongst their stony habitat. This is a great survival strategy against predators that hunt by sight but isn’t that effective against smell-driven hunters (and humans driving through their habitat).
Campaign Manager
Pūkorokoro Shorebird Centre
With their sideways-turned bill, ngutu pare | wrybill are unique among birds, and the Pūkorokoro Coast of Tikapa Moana Firth of Thames is Wrybill Central. Nearly half the world population migrate there after breeding on South Island braided riverbeds. Pūkorokoro Miranda Shorebird Centre is campaigning to raise the profile of these cool creatures about which too many New Zealanders know too little. Nor do they realise the pressures on those precious riverbed habitats, the only places where wrybill can breed. We are joining with South Island colleagues such as Rakahuri Ashley River Care and BRaid affiliates in this campaign to recruit for the WryForce.
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