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This page lists books about birds, or which include sections on birds, published by Craig Potton Publishing in New Zealand.

The books are arranged by publication date with the most recent at the top.

Above the Treeline: Nature Guide to Alpine New Zealand

Alan E. Mark

2013

"New Zealand's alpine environment is challenging, not only for the humans who explore it but for the plants and animals that inhabit it. The extremes of temperature, short summers and high rates of erosion make for an uncertain environment, and the flora and fauna have evolved and adapted to it in interesting ways. Above the Treeline: A nature guide to the New Zealand mountains is a guide to the natural history of these fascinating ecosystems. It is the first book to be published that brings together the range of flora and fauna that inhabit the alpine environment. As well as our unique alpine plants, which constitute the majority of the book, this guide includes birds; frogs and lizards; butterflies, moths, grasshoppers, beetles and other invertebrates; and mosses and lichens. An informative introduction is followed by descriptions of more than 850 species, illustrated by approximately 1000 colour photographs. Written by eminent botanist and conservationist Sir Alan Mark, with contributions by Brian Patrick, Rod Morris, Mandy Tocher and David Galloway, this book is an important reference and field guide, and a celebration of the richness of New Zealand's alpine environment."

Tui: A Nest in the Bush

Meg Lipscombe

2013

"The author is a photographer living at Lake Tarawera, surrounded by native forest and an abundant variety of bird life. One spring morning in 2011 Meg noticed a tui disappear into a Pseudopanax bush with a twig in its mouth, and discovered that the nest, while well hidden from below, could be seen from her balcony. By carefully removing some leaves from the bush she was able to get a clear view of the nest, giving her a rare opportunity to visually record the beginning of a tui's life. The journal entries that accompany the photographs describe how the author spent many hours talking to the tui while it was sitting on the two eggs, hoping that the bird would become familiar with her voice and learn to trust her. This also enabled her to observe the variety of food that was being fed to the chicks, and how the parents always returned to the nest with food via the same trees. The growth and development of tui chicks has never been photographed in this way before, and this fascinating account will be of great interest not only to those with a particular interest in ornithology, but to everyone who enjoys the native bird life in their gardens."

Moa: The Life and Death of New Zealand's Legendary Bird

Quinn Berentson

2012

"The moa were the most unusual and unique family of birds that ever lived, a clan of feathered monsters that developed in isolation for many, many millions of years. They became extinct reasonably quickly after the arrival of the Maori, and were a distant memory by the time European explorers arrived. So the discovery and identification of their bones in the 1840s was a worldwide sensation, claimed by many to be the zoological find of the century. This book begins by recounting the story of discovery, which was characterised by an unbelievable amount of controversy and intrigue. Since then there has been an unbroken chain of new discoveries, culminating with intriguing revelations in recent years about the moa's biology, that have come to light through DNA testing and radio-dating. This is a fascinating and important book that richly recounts the life and death of our strangest bird. Packed with a fantastic range of illustrations, Moa fills an important gap in our natural history literature, a popular but serious book on this national icon."

Kakapo: Rescued from the Brink of Extinction

Alison Ballance

2010

"The kakapo is one of New Zealand's most charismatic yet mysterious birds. It is also one of the world's most threatened species and a New Zealand conservation success story. An ancient, flightless, nocturnal, herbivorous giant parrot, the kakapo was once numerous throughout the country but is now extinct in its natural range. At its low point, the population was reduced to as few as 40 known individuals, but thanks to the hard work and innovation of the Kakapo Recovery Programme, New Zealand's flagship threatened-species conservation programme, the kakapo population now exceeds 120. Despite this exciting turnaround, there has not been a significant book on the kakapo since 1989. The story of this remarkable bird embraces science, conservation, ingenuity and personal dedication. Through an informative and entertaining mix of hard facts, history, and accounts of the daily and seasonal routines of kakapo and their minders, Alison Ballance brings together these threads to describe the natural history of the bird and tell the inspiring story of the Kakapo Recovery Programme."

Natural New Zealand: The Landscapes, Animals and Plants of Aotearoa

Shaun Barnett

2009

"Natural New Zealand is a celebration of this country's remarkable natural world. Crowded into the small islands of this isolated country is a wonderfully diverse range of landscapes - mountains, glaciers, volcanoes, fiords, lakes, rivers and thousands of kilometres of rugged coastline. These landscapes are home to a fascinating array of plants and animals that, through millions of years of isolation, have evolved in unique ways, resulting in rarities such as the flightless kiwi, the takahe and the tuatara, as well as the magnificent rainforest for which New Zealand is so well known. In this new and comprehensively revised edition of Natural New Zealand, well-known writer and photographer Shaun Barnett has taken the original concept and greatly expanded it, using a series of short essays on the most important themes of New Zealand's natural history to give more substance to his stunning sequence of photographs."

Kahurangi Calling: Stories from the Backcountry of Northwest Nelson

Gerald Hindmarsh

2009

"Kahurangi National Park gathers in a huge area of wilderness in the top northwest corner of the South Island, stretching west from Nelson in an endless maze of forested mountains and valleys to the rugged and wild West Coast, running out from Golden Bay down to Karamea. This area has an astonishing ecological complexity, so it is perhaps not surprising that this landscape has also generated a wonderfully rich and colourful human history. For well over 20 years Golden Bay author Gerard Hindmarsh has been collecting stories from Kahurangi and in this book he has woven the best of them into a fascinating blend of natural and social history. In Kahurangi Calling he describes many of the ecological treasures that are found in Kahurangi, but also tells the stories about the fascinating characters that have travelled and lived here: explorers, miners, graziers, trampers and other adventurers, eelers, hermits and many others."

New Zealand's Wilderness Heritage

Les Molloy and Craig Potton

2007

"New Zealand's Wilderness Heritage is structured around a bio-regional approach, with 13 chapters detailing the protected areas, major flora and fauna values, endangered species and conservation threats and responses for each region of New Zealand. Apart from the mainland, this includes all the significant offshore islands, the sub-Antarctic islands, and the Ross Sea region of Antarctica. Seen in totality like this, New Zealand's wilderness seems all the more remarkable, with a diversity of habitat ranging from the teeming marine reserves around some of the offshore islands to the remote rainforests of south-west New Zealand."

Whio: Saving New Zealand's Blue Duck

David Young

2006

"The blue duck, or whio, is one of New Zealand's ancient treasures, a beautiful torrent duck that once lived on clear, fast-flowing rivers throughout most of the country. Sadly, this is no longer the case. While the plight of many of our high-profile endangered species, such as the kakapo and kiwi, are well known, the blue duck belongs to the not so well known 'second tier' of endangered species (including kaka, kea, parakeets and North Island brown kiwi) whose numbers have dropped alarmingly in the last 15 years, and who now require urgent recovery programmes to prevent a slide toward extinction. Whio tells the story of how a dedicated group of scientists, field workers and volunteers have set about saving the blue duck, and combines a natural history of the bird with an illustrated history of human interaction, as well as a social history of the blue duck then and now. Recovery efforts are focussed on populations that are found in Te Urewera, the Central North Island, the rivers that flow off Mt Taranaki, Kahurangi National Park, and Fiordland. Heavily illustrated with superb photographs from some of New Zealand's leading wildlife photographers, this is an inspiring, delightful book. The blue duck is particularly special, carrying with it the emblematic power of a bird whose home has come to symbolise the very heart of natural New Zealand."

Ghosts of Gondwana: The History of Life in New Zealand

George Gibbs

2006

"Have you ever wondered why New Zealand's plants and animals are so different from those in other countries? Why the kakapo is the only parrot in the world that cannot fly, or why the kiwi lives here and nowhere else? New Zealand is an extraordinary place, unique on earth, and the remarkable story of how and why life evolved here is the subject of Ghosts of Gondwana. The science that traces the history of life on earth is called historical biogeography, and it is the basis of this book. George Gibbs' very accessible story summarises exciting new research which leads to an understanding of where our fauna and flora come from and how they evolved to become some of the strangest in the world. It also reveals the landmark events in our deep history which have moulded the life of today, and presents a balanced view of the arguments which accompany this type of speculative science. Ghosts of Gondwana is a highly readable and engaging book. Heavily illustrated with photographs and illustrations, it is the only contemporary book on this subject, and is essential reading for anyone interested in New Zealand's natural history."