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New Zealand's largest native pigeon does a job no other bird left in the country can do.
Since the extinction of the moa, the kererū has been the only native bird left in New Zealand large enough to swallow big native fruits — species like miro, tawa, and karaka — whole, seed and all. That single fact makes it one of the most ecologically important birds in any native forest, Mou Waho included: several tree species on the island rely almost entirely on kererū passing through to spread their seed.
At up to 51 centimetres long and around 650 grams, the kererū is not a subtle bird. Its head, back, and wings carry an iridescent blue-green and bronze sheen, set off by a bright white chest, and its wingbeats make a distinctive whooshing sound as it flies overhead — often the first sign you'll get that one is nearby. They're also surprisingly acrobatic for their size, capable of steep, diving flight displays, particularly during breeding season.
No other bird left in New Zealand can do what the kererū does for the forest.
Mou Waho's regenerating native bush depends on birds like the kererū more than most visitors realise. As the island's predator control programme has taken hold, kererū numbers have had the chance to recover in a way that's increasingly rare on the mainland, where rats, possums, and stoats take a heavy toll on eggs and chicks. Every fruit a kererū eats and later disperses elsewhere on the island is a small contribution to the forest's future — one of the quieter reasons Mou Waho's bush looks the way it does.
Kererū tend to perch prominently in the canopy rather than hide in the understorey, so a slow scan of the treetops as you climb toward Arethusa Pool is usually rewarded. Listen, too — that heavy wingbeat is unmistakable once you've heard it, and it's often the giveaway that one has just taken off from a branch above you.
Spot one yourself on our full-day lake tour, which stops on Mou Waho.
