- 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
Keith Woodley
Wrybill are unique birds, and the Pukorokoro Coast of Tikapo Moana Hauraki Gulf is Wrybill Central. After breeding on South Island riverbeds, nearly half the world population migrate here. Pukorokoro Shorebird Centre is campaigning to raise the profile of these cool creatures, that too many New Zealanders know little about. Nor do they realise the pressures on those precious riverbed habitats, the only places where wrybill can breed. We will join with South Island colleagues such as Ashley River Care and Braid affiliates in this campaign.
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