Forest & Bird @forestandbird.bsky.social · 15/01/2026Spotting the iridescent blue-green shimmer of a kōtare sacred kingfisher is an unexpected urban moment – perhaps on a power line or in your backyard! ✨ Kōtare are adapting to urban landscapes in Aotearoa, and there are ways we can help them thrive further. 📸: Maurice Summerfield, Dan Dirks 3163
Forest & Bird @forestandbird.bsky.social · 05/01/2026Not sure what bug to vote for in Bug of the Year? Use our handy guide 🙂↕️ Vote here: bugoftheyear.ento.org.nz 1177
Forest & Bird @forestandbird.bsky.social · 31/12/2025Happy New Year, ngā mihi o te tau hou! 2026 will be a big year. We’re excited to use every opportunity we can to amplify nature’s voice. Aroha nui to you and your loved ones as we welcome in a new year 🥳 📸: Original photo, William Harland 22812
Forest & Bird @forestandbird.bsky.social · 09/12/2025🌳🪶 The Government has announced their proposal to replace the RMA. Here's our first take 🌳🪶 254
Forest & Bird @forestandbird.bsky.social · 06/10/2025🦅✨ Speed-swoop into style and snag a pair of kārearea earrings by Remix Plastic – designed to celebrate the fierce and fabulous 2025 Bird of the Year. $2 from every pair goes directly to support vital conservation mahi, so you’re not just looking good, you’re doing good too🎉https://remixplastic.com/ 083
Forest & Bird @forestandbird.bsky.social · 28/09/2025And now... 🏅A few words from our winner🏅 #BOTY2025 #BirdoftheYear2025 #BirdoftheYear #NZBirdoftheYear @thomassainsbury 02414
Forest & Bird @forestandbird.bsky.social · 22/09/2025Confused by all the talk of vote validation? 🗳️We can't let spam-bots decide who gets the crown! 🤖 So we can only count verified votes. Once you've submitted your picks, you're just a click away from verification. ✅ #BOTY2025 #BirdoftheYear2025 #BirdoftheYear #NZBirdoftheYear 11810
Forest & Bird @forestandbird.bsky.social · 13/09/2025Need some help choosing which birds to vote for in the 20th Bird of the Year? Download our handy flowchart. Voting opens Monday! 👉https://f.mtr.cool/euvawqrgje #BOTY2025 #BirdoftheYear2025 #BirdoftheYear 23424
Forest & Bird @forestandbird.bsky.social · 11/09/2025🧱🐦 Missed out on a bird brick kit? Here’s your second chance! 49 sets of each bird (pīwakawaka, kākāpō, tūī and pekapeka) will be available at the Wellington Brick Show along with a chance to meet their creator @bricks.by.mike_ 📅 13 September 📍 Walter Nash Centre, Lower Hutt #BOTY2025 0148
Forest & Bird @forestandbird.bsky.social · 08/09/2025Wear your Bird of the Year vote as eco-friendly jewellery. ✨ Turning waste into treasure, Remix Plastic is donating $2 from select pairs of their stunning bird earrings, studs, and pins – including pūteketeke and hoiho – to support our conservation mahi. 👉 remixplastic.com #BOTY2025 010
Forest & Bird @forestandbird.bsky.social · 03/09/2025Critter of the Week fans – new merch has landed! $5 from every purchase goes to supporting conservation heroes. 👉 joyya.com/en-nz/collections/critter… 0126
Forest & Bird @forestandbird.bsky.social · 01/09/2025🌿🌿🌿 Three easy ways to start conservation for Te Wiki Tiaki Ao Tūroa, Conservation Week, 1 to 7 September 2025. 1. Pick up rubbish 2. Support pest control 3. Vote nature 🐦Let’s make conservation part of everyday life. We’d love to hear your ideas for making it more accessible 💚 072
Forest & Bird @forestandbird.bsky.social · 06/08/2025🦜 Celebrate 20 years of Bird of the Year and take home your own piece of history with our limited-edition brick-built model, developed by @bricks.by.mike_ ! Only 200 are available, so get in fast before they waddle away!! f.mtr.cool/delugiizam 0238
Forest & Bird @forestandbird.bsky.social · 02/08/2025🔥 These past Bird of the Year winners are looking for a match! From viral heartthrobs to underdog glow-ups, these plucky singles know how to ruffle feathers and steal hearts 🐦💔 👉 Keen to campaign? They’re waiting for you. f.mtr.cool/xsglwvyqlx 031
Forest & Bird @forestandbird.bsky.social · 30/07/2025Some birds have flocks of fans ... these guys are still looking for “the One”. Swipe right on these cuties before someone else snaps them up 💘 Become a campaign manager: www.forestandbird.org.nz/apply-be-b… 020
Forest & Bird @forestandbird.bsky.social · 29/07/2025Heal the Hauraki - Episode 2: “Tangata” IS OUT NOW 💙 🌊 Around the Hauraki Gulf our ocean communities are struggling – habitat loss means biodiversity is out of balance & ecosystems are failing. But a groundswell is rising – of courage, care, and collective hope🩵 👇 Watch now youtu.be/t9eppCixWfs?...youtu.beHeal the Hauraki - Episode 2 - "TANGATA (PEOPLE)", with Bianca Ranson & Mandy KupengaYouTube video by Heal The Hauraki 064
Forest & Bird @forestandbird.bsky.social · 19/07/2025“It’s the trawling that’s turned thriving [ocean] ecosystems into lifeless mud.” We're standing with the Hauraki Gulf Alliance on the Rainbow Warrior, calling for a complete ban on bottom trawling in Tīkapa Moana. It's time to protect our marine life & end this destructive practice once and for all. 0136
Forest & Bird @forestandbird.bsky.social · 18/07/2025A loaf-sized shrimp? The supergiant amphipod, or Alicella gigantea, lives 7 km below the ocean’s surface and is a monster compared to other shrimp. The extreme pressure at the depth they live in is theorised to have led to their gigantism, just like the colossal squid 🦑 📸 Alan Jamieson (CC-BY-SA) 086
Forest & Bird @forestandbird.bsky.social · 28/06/2025Forest & Bird’s Nicola Toki joins broadcaster John Cowan on NewstalkZM’s Real Life at 7.30 tonight to talk about what shaped her passion for nature, why many people don’t realise the scale of our biodiversity crisis, and how we can turn it around. f.mtr.cool/nevovblnlc 052
Forest & Bird @forestandbird.bsky.social · 09/06/2025The battle of the birds is BACK! 🐦✨ Bird of the Year returns this September. 🗓️ Voting will open Monday 15 September 🗓️ Voting will close Sunday 28 September You can sign up now to become a campaign manager. 👉 f.mtr.cool/xjbevgkqfr 02718
Forest & Bird @forestandbird.bsky.social · 30/05/2025Meet Philophthalmus attenuatus, the seagull eye parasite you never knew existed (and probably wish you still didn’t). Listen to Richard talking to Jesse on RNZ for today's #CritterOfTheWeek. 📸 Image by flaxington www.rnz.co.nz/national/pro... 030
Forest & Bird @forestandbird.bsky.social · 29/05/2025Denniston might look rugged and empty from a distance – but get down low and you’ll discover a tapestry of rare mosses, alpine daisies, sundews 🌱🦎 💚 Add your observations or browse the wild wonders already spotted: 👉 inaturalist.nz/projects/cel... #CelebratingDenniston #WarOnNature 0205
Forest & Bird @forestandbird.bsky.social · 28/05/2025📣 Want to take action for climate & nature this week? Our friends at @350nz.bsky.social are organising protests around the country calling on ANZ to cut ties with coal giant Bathurst Resources – the company behind plans to dig up the wild and irreplaceable Denniston Plateau. ❌⛏️🌿 350.org.nz/coal/ 0104
Forest & Bird @forestandbird.bsky.social · 26/05/2025Over the weekend, Forest & Bird gathered to celebrate the #Denniston Plateau and rally against a proposed fast-tracked open-cast coal mine. On RNZ, Kennedy Warne spoke of its rich biodiversity, the magic of the place and the threat that the proposed mine presents. www.rnz.co.nz/national/pro...rnz.co.nzThe wonders of the Denniston PlateauNine to Noon's outdoors man, Kennedy Warne, has spent the weekend at the Denniston Plateau on the West Coast, with several dozen nature enthusiasts. He describes it as "strange and wonderful" and shar... 0112
Forest & Bird @forestandbird.bsky.social · 22/05/2025Budget 2025 is a disaster for our environment. Conservation investment is MIA while 75% of native species face extinction. The Govt is gambling with $133B in natural assets and our economy. This is environmental neglect, not leadership. We demand better. www.forestandbird.org.nz/resources/no...forestandbird.org.nzNo nature, no economy: Budget 2025 misses the $133b pointForest & Bird says the Government’s lack of investment in New Zealand’s environment in Budget 2025 is deeply concerning given the importance of the environment to our economy and society. 39348
Forest & Bird @forestandbird.bsky.social · 20/05/2025Global delegates have landed in Ōtepoti Dunedin for the Agreement on the Conservation of Albatrosses & Petrels (#ACAP) seabird summit. We hope this week’s meeting will encourage countries to adopt stronger protections at sea – b/c saving these special species takes global commitment & local action. 1125
Forest & Bird @forestandbird.bsky.social · 13/05/2025“What’s next?A sanctuary for stoats?” Forest & Bird calls out plans to turn Fiordland into a game park. When conservation funding faces a $1.5B shortfall, the prioritisation of hunting over biodiversity protection is deeply concerning: www.rnz.co.nz/news/politic... #WarOnNature #SaveConservationLandrnz.co.nzMove to protect Fiordlank elk draws ire of Forest and BirdForest and Bird has accusing the government of "changing the law to let a North American deer species use the national park as a glorified vege patch". 22011
Forest & Bird @forestandbird.bsky.social · 06/05/2025Nzers ❤️ public conservation land, but DYK that… - there are different levels of protection? - many types are at risk due to Government’s Fast-track development legislation? - the Government is trying to make it easier to sell off this public land?! For more go to www.facebook.com/forestandbird 051
Forest & Bird @forestandbird.bsky.social · 05/05/2025🤔 “Likely the most poorly known large mammal species of modern times” is how the spade-toothed whale, Mesoplodon traversii, is described 🐋 🎧 Forest & Bird’s Nicola Toki tells RNZ’s Jesse Mulligan what scientists DO know 🔍about this mysterious Critter of the Week www.rnz.co.nz/national/pro... 082
Forest & Bird @forestandbird.bsky.social · 02/05/2025♻️ Circular in more ways than one! Introducing the new, limited-edition Re:band collection by Remix plastic – made from bird banding waste leftover from DOC mahi. Wearable in two ways and $2 from each piece goes to us! 👉 Grab yours at www.remixplastic.com 💚 Reduce waste – Look great – Do good 💚 020
Forest & Bird @forestandbird.bsky.social · 02/05/2025🚨 Rat hunt at Tarapuruhi Bushy Park near Whanganui! 🐀 CE, Nicola Toki: “We’re throwing everything we have and everything we can at it.” 🥾 If you are physically fit & have got good backcountry skills and trapping experience – help our hunt for a rat & please volunteer: bushypark.nz/join-the-cau... 021
Forest & Bird @forestandbird.bsky.social · 01/05/2025🎧“Coal belongs in the past. There is so much new technology and new and important and gentler ways of living from this point.” Listen to our CE Nicola Toki's interview on Radio Waatea about how the New Zealand government is promoting expanding coal mines. waateanews.com/2025/05/01/n...waateanews.comNicola Toki | Forest & Bird’s Chief Executive 071
Forest & Bird @forestandbird.bsky.social · 27/04/2025Pīngao or golden sand sledge is a wonder of a #nzplant - naturally binding together #sanddunes for #climateresilient #coastlines 🏖️ Choose Nature-based Solutions - they work! 💯 www.forestandbird.org.nz/campaigns/choose-nature-based-solutions #naturebasedsolutions #ClimateAction #nzconservation 073
Forest & Bird @forestandbird.bsky.social · 23/04/2025Destroying the Denniston Plateau epitomises the worst of the Fast-track law – cutting environmental protections and public input to make it easier to dig up more of the dirtiest fossil fuel and destroy a biodiversity hotspot.🦎🦋🐌 We'll keep fighting against this. newsroom.co.nz/2025/04/20/p...newsroom.co.nzProtesters set up camp at fast-tracked coal mineThe occupation is 'the first of many' says 350Aotearoa, who plans to continue to disrupting Bathurst's operations on the West Coast 0126
Forest & Bird @forestandbird.bsky.social · 17/04/2025Quiz Time! 🥚🔍 Can you identify which NZ species laid each of these eggs? (Need a bit of help - look in the comments) 🐣 252
Forest & Bird @forestandbird.bsky.social · 14/04/2025“It’s called the state of environment report but it should be called the state of extinction report.” Forest & Bird Chief Executive Nicola Toki telling it like it is on 1News last night. Check out the full clip here: www.tvnz.co.nz/news/one-new... 0122
Forest & Bird @forestandbird.bsky.social · 11/04/2025You can eat our #CritterOfTheWeek... Karengo is a group of red seaweeds considered the nori of Aotearoa. But don't just think sushi 🍥 you can eat it like pasta, chips, or bake it into cakes. 📷: Jorge Jimenez via iNaturalist CC BY-NC 4.0 151
Forest & Bird @forestandbird.bsky.social · 10/04/2025“The land without teeth… if it has four legs and fur, it didn’t evolve in our country.” 🎧 Have a listen to our CE Nicola Toki explaining NZ ecology to the Aussies on their Invasive Species Council webinar. Tune in for a refresher on how amazing nature can be. www.youtube.com/watch?v=2DrQ...youtube.comIn Conversation: Predator Free 2050 with Nicola TokiYouTube video by Invasive Species Council, Australia 020
Forest & Bird @forestandbird.bsky.social · 09/04/2025🚨The Govt is reviewing the Fisheries Act. If you're part of the 69& of NZers concerned about the moana, the time to speak up is now! Submissions close 5pm Friday 11 April: www.mpi.govt.nz/consultation... 141
Forest & Bird @forestandbird.bsky.social · 09/04/2025 🔥🌲 “Flammable, short-lived, and shallow-rooted pines just don’t cut it as a permanent carbon sink,” says Forest & Bird's Dean Baigent-Mercer. We agree that it’s time for New Zealand to have a forestry reset. www.forestandbird.org.nz/resources/pc...forestandbird.org.nzPCE report highlights need for forestry resetForest & Bird says the need to urgently increase planting and regeneration of native forests as permanent carbon sinks and for native biodiversity is backed up by a report out today from the Parliamen... 0239
Forest & Bird @forestandbird.bsky.social · 08/04/2025DYK, hydrocoral is a colony of animals & a close relative of jellyfish! 🤯 Like many taonga of Aotearoa, they’re under threat — ocean acidification caused by climate change will weaken their carbonate skeletons 🪸 Red coral is precious & #TooCoolToLose. www.forestandbird.org.nz/campaigns/to... 162
Forest & Bird @forestandbird.bsky.social · 07/04/2025*What* a finale for TVNZ’s Endangered Species Aotearoa?! 🐋 🦜 🏝️ ICYMI, there’s a stunning line-up of species both in the sea and on the land.... Thanks to @nzonair.bsky.social for their support 🌱 - catch up on the episodes via @tvnz.bsky.social! 0164
Forest & Bird @forestandbird.bsky.social · 07/04/2025✨Tonight! ✨The final episode of TVNZ’s Endangered Species Aotearoa airs at 7.30pm on @tvnz.bsky.social & TVNZ+. 🏝️ Tune in to travel across the Pacific & meet some incredibly special creatures. 🦜 🐋 Thanks to @nzonair.bsky.social! 080
Forest & Bird @forestandbird.bsky.social · 07/04/2025“Flogging off the public conservation estate by stealth." Our CE Nicola Toki says public conservation land shouldn't be sold off. Modelling of large-scale permanent pine forests raises red flags about the Government’s attitude towards conservation land. www.rnz.co.nz/news/environ...rnz.co.nzPine planting: Ministers 'dreaming' about amount of suitable land, say green groupsThe government's claim to be on track for net zero emissions by 2050 relies on private companies planting pine on 280,000ha of crown land, official modelling shows. 1144
Forest & Bird @forestandbird.bsky.social · 04/04/2025#JonToogood has donated the handwritten lyrics of ‘Home Again’ to #OursNotMines, in support of NZ’s precious conservation land. We’re thrilled to see the legendary Kiwi musician join the campaign for a future for Aotearoa that doesn’t include mining on public #ConservationLand! 44111
Forest & Bird @forestandbird.bsky.social · 03/04/2025🦇Exciting bat news! 🦇 Record high capture numbers could mean a recovering population. Or our team could be getting better at bat tracking. Bats are vulnerable to predators, and need good predator control, but monitoring these fast-flying tiny critters is a challenge. www.rnz.co.nz/news/ldr/556...rnz.co.nzRecord number of native pekapeka bats counted at Marlborough's Pelorus BridgeRecord high numbers of long tailed bats have been captured and tracked during an annual count of the vulnerable mammal. 0151
Forest & Bird @forestandbird.bsky.social · 02/04/2025🚨 Another threat to our coastal and marine wildlife: vehicles on beaches! A recent global study confirms what we already know: our coastal ecosystems are under attack. Listen to Forest & Bird's Carl Morgan discuss the issue with RNZ's Jesse Mulligan: www.rnz.co.nz/national/pro...rnz.co.nzNo cars on the beach?A global study of over 250 dune species concluded that there is no safe level for driving on beaches. 173
Forest & Bird @forestandbird.bsky.social · 02/04/2025Did you meet Whangamarino Wetland on Monday night on TVNZ’s Endangered Species Aotearoa? Exclusive to this amazing habitat in the mighty Waikato is the equally amazing 🌸 swamp helmet orchid 🌿 #TooCoolToLose 1239
Forest & Bird @forestandbird.bsky.social · 01/04/2025👀 Looking for a fun school holiday activity in Ōtautahi that gets kids out into nature? The children's book 'Five Wee Pūteketeke' by our CE Nicola Toki has been transformed into a StoryWalk in Rangiora 🌿 163
Forest & Bird @forestandbird.bsky.social · 31/03/2025The pukunui southern New Zealand dotterel population on Rakiura is facing extinction, with only 101 birds left due to predation from feral cats. A planned aerial predator control operation this winter will give them the greatest chance of recovery. www.forestandbird.org.nz/resources/so...forestandbird.org.nzSouthern underbirdsEpic efforts are underway to save the last 101 pukunui southern New Zealand dotterels from extinction. By Kerrie Waterworth 0135