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Marlborough Sounds Important Bird Areas
The Marlborough Sounds Important Bird Areas are four distinct sites comprising several small, rocky islets contained within an area with a maximum linear extent of 40 km, in New Zealand. They lie close to Cook Strait in the outer Marlborough Sounds at the northern end of the South Island. The sites are Duffers Reef, Sentinel Rock, White Rocks and the Trio Islands. They have been identified as Important Bird Areas (IBAs) by BirdLife International because they hold the only known colonies, and encompass the entire breeding range, of the vulnerable rough-faced shag (also known as the New Zealand king shag).BirdLife International. (2012). Important Bird Areas factsheets: Duffers Reef. Sentinel Rock. Trio Islands. White Rocks. Downloaded from http://www.birdlife.org on 2012-02-03. IBAs * Duffers Reef is the continuation of the main ridge of Forsyth Island at the entrance to Pelorus Sound / Te Hoiere. The reef is about 1 km long and consists of rocky islets up to 30  ...
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New Zealand
New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island country by area, covering . New Zealand is about east of Australia across the Tasman Sea and south of the islands of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga. The country's varied topography and sharp mountain peaks, including the Southern Alps, owe much to tectonic uplift and volcanic eruptions. New Zealand's capital city is Wellington, and its most populous city is Auckland. The islands of New Zealand were the last large habitable land to be settled by humans. Between about 1280 and 1350, Polynesians began to settle in the islands and then developed a distinctive Māori culture. In 1642, the Dutch explorer Abel Tasman became the first European to sight and record New Zealand. In 1840, representatives of the United Kingdom and Māori chiefs ...
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Cook Strait
Cook Strait ( mi, Te Moana-o-Raukawa) separates the North and South Islands of New Zealand. The strait connects the Tasman Sea on the northwest with the South Pacific Ocean on the southeast. It is wide at its narrowest point,McLintock, A H, Ed. (1966''Cook Strait''from An Encyclopaedia of New Zealand, updated 18-Sep-2007. Note: This is the distance between the North Island and Arapaoa Island; some sources give a slightly larger reading of around , that between the North Island and the South Island. and is considered one of the most dangerous and unpredictable waters in the world. Regular ferry services run across the strait between Picton in the Marlborough Sounds and Wellington. The strait is named after James Cook, the first European commander to sail through it, in 1770. In Māori it is named ''Te Moana-o-Raukawa'', which means ''The Sea of Raukawa''. Raukawa is a type of woody shrub native to New Zealand. History Approximately 18,000 years ago during the Last Gla ...
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Marlborough Sounds
The Marlborough Sounds are an extensive network of sea-drowned valleys at the northern end of the South Island of New Zealand. The Marlborough Sounds were created by a combination of land subsidence and rising sea levels. According to Māori mythology, the sounds are the prows of the many sunken waka of Aoraki. Overview Covering some of sounds, islands, and peninsulas, the Marlborough Sounds lie at the South Island's north-easternmost point, between Tasman Bay / Te Tai-o-Aorere in the west and Cloudy Bay in the south-east. The almost fractal coastline has 1/10 of the length of New Zealand's coasts. The steep, wooded hills and small quiet bays of the sounds are sparsely populated, as access is difficult. Many of the small settlements and isolated houses are only accessible by boat. The main large port is Picton on the mainland, at the head of Queen Charlotte Sound. It is at the northern terminus of the South Island's main railway and state highway networks. The main small-bo ...
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South Island
The South Island, also officially named , is the larger of the two major islands of New Zealand in surface area, the other being the smaller but more populous North Island. It is bordered to the north by Cook Strait, to the west by the Tasman Sea, and to the south and east by the Pacific Ocean. The South Island covers , making it the world's 12th-largest island. At low altitude, it has an oceanic climate. The South Island is shaped by the Southern Alps which run along it from north to south. They include New Zealand's highest peak, Aoraki / Mount Cook at . The high Kaikōura Ranges lie to the northeast. The east side of the island is home to the Canterbury Plains while the West Coast is famous for its rough coastlines such as Fiordland, a very high proportion of native bush and national parks, and the Fox and Franz Josef Glaciers. The main centres are Christchurch and Dunedin. The economy relies on agriculture and fishing, tourism, and general manufacturing and services. ...
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Important Bird Area
An Important Bird and Biodiversity Area (IBA) is an area identified using an internationally agreed set of criteria as being globally important for the conservation of bird populations. IBA was developed and sites are identified by BirdLife International. There are over 13,000 IBAs worldwide. These sites are small enough to be entirely conserved and differ in their character, habitat or ornithological importance from the surrounding habitat. In the United States the Program is administered by the National Audubon Society. Often IBAs form part of a country's existing protected area network, and so are protected under national legislation. Legal recognition and protection of IBAs that are not within existing protected areas varies within different countries. Some countries have a National IBA Conservation Strategy, whereas in others protection is completely lacking. History In 1985, following a specific request from the European Economic Community, Birdlife International ...
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BirdLife International
BirdLife International is a global partnership of non-governmental organizations that strives to conserve birds and their habitats. BirdLife International's priorities include preventing extinction of bird species, identifying and safeguarding important sites for birds, maintaining and restoring key bird habitats, and empowering conservationists worldwide. It has a membership of more than 2.5 million people across 116 country partner organizations, including the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds, the Wild Bird Society of Japan, the National Audubon Society and American Bird Conservancy. BirdLife International has identified 13,000 Important Bird and Biodiversity Areas and is the official International Union for Conservation of Nature’s Red List authority for birds. As of 2015, BirdLife International has established that 1,375 bird species (13% of the total) are threatened with extinction ( critically endangered, endangered or vulnerable). BirdLife International p ...
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Vulnerable Species
A vulnerable species is a species which has been Conservation status, categorized by the International Union for Conservation of Nature as being threatened species, threatened with extinction unless the circumstances that are threatened species, threatening its survival and reproduction improve. Vulnerability is mainly caused by habitat loss or destruction of the species' home. Vulnerable habitat or species are monitored and can become increasingly threatened. Some species listed as "vulnerable" may be common in captivity (animal), captivity, an example being the military macaw. There are currently 5196 animals and 6789 plants classified as Vulnerable, compared with 1998 levels of 2815 and 3222, respectively. Practices such as cryoconservation of animal genetic resources have been enforced in efforts to conserve vulnerable breeds of livestock specifically. Criteria The International Union for Conservation of Nature uses several criteria to enter species in this category. A tax ...
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Rough-faced Shag
The New Zealand king shag (''Leucocarbo carunculatus''), also known as the rough-faced shag, king shag or kawau, is a rare bird endemic to New Zealand. Some taxonomic authorities, including the International Ornithologists' Union, place this species in the genus ''Leucocarbo''. Others place it in the genus ''Phalacrocorax''. Taxonomy The New Zealand king shag was formally described in 1789 by the German naturalist Johann Friedrich Gmelin in his revised and expanded edition of Carl Linnaeus's ''Systema Naturae''. He placed it in the genus '' Pelecanus'' and coined the binomial name ''Pelecanus carunculatus''. Gmelin based his description on the "carunculated shag" that had been described in 1785 by the English ornithologist John Latham in his book ''A General Synopsis of Birds ''. Latham had based his description on a specimen in the Leverian Museum. The New Zealand king shag is now one of 16 species placed in the genus ''Leucocarbo'' that was introduced in 1856 by the French na ...
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Pelorus Sound / Te Hoiere
Pelorus Sound / Te Hoiere is the largest of the Sound (geography), sounds which make up the Marlborough Sounds at the north of the South Island, New Zealand. The Marlborough Sounds is a system of drowned river valleys, which were formed after the last ice age around 10,000 years ago. Pelorus Sound has a main channel which winds south from Cook Strait for about , between steeply sloped wooded hills, until it reached its head close to Havelock, New Zealand, Havelock town. Pelorus has several major arms, notably Tennyson Inlet, Tawhitinui Reach, Kenepuru Sound and the Crail/Clova/Beatrix Bay complex. Its shoreline runs for . Industry in Pelorus Sounds is based around Aquaculture in New Zealand, marine farming, pine forestry and some tourism. Private holiday homes are becoming more common. Most of the settled places are hard to reach overland, and are serviced by the ''Pelorus Express'', a mail boat which does three different weekly runs from Havelock.''Sounds like a red-letter day a ...
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Chetwode Islands
The Chetwode Islands are a group of islands near the Marlborough Sounds along the northern coast of the South Island of New Zealand. The group consists of Nukuwaiata Island (to the southwest), rising to , and Te Kakaho Island (highest elevation ) to the northeast. The remaining islets are tiny in comparison. All of the Chetwode Islands are a nature reserve. The islands are named after Lieutenant Chetwode, acting commander of the , in 1838. See also * Islands of New Zealand * List of islands * Desert island A desert island, deserted island, or uninhabited island, is an island, islet or atoll that is not permanently populated by humans. Uninhabited islands are often depicted in films or stories about shipwrecked people, and are also used as stereot ... References External links Nukuwaiata / Inner Chetwode Island – 1936 and 2011 – In the footsteps of Edgar SteadNukuwaiata (Inner Chetwode Island) birds and lizards Uninhabited islands of New Zealand Islands ...
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D'Urville Island, New Zealand
D'Urville Island (), Māori name ' ('red heavens look to the south'), is an island in the Marlborough Sounds along the northern coast of the South Island of New Zealand. It was named after the French explorer Jules Dumont d'Urville. With an area of approximately , it is the eighth-largest island of New Zealand, and has around 52 permanent residents. The local authority is the Marlborough District Council. History The official name of the island is Rangitoto ki te Tonga / D'Urville Island, with the Māori language name, associated with Kupe, meaning "Red Heavens Look to the South". The island was a traditional source of argillite (''pakohe''), used in the production of stone tools such as adzes during the Archaic period (1300–1500). From the 1600s until the early 1800s, the island was a part of the rohe of Ngāti Tūmatakōkiri. In the present day, the island is within the rohe of Ngāti Koata and Ngāti Kuia. Geography The island has a convoluted coastline, as is frequently ...
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