New Zealand Snipe

Taxobox


image_caption = Illustration from Walter Buller's 1888 "Birds of New Zealand"."C. aucklandica" is on the left. on the right is a Godwit.
name = New Zealand Snipe
status = NT | status_system = IUCN3.1
regnum = Animalia
phylum = Chordata
classis = Aves
ordo = Charadriiformes
familia = Scolopacidae
genus = "Coenocorypha"
| species = "C. aucklandica"
binomial = "Coenocorypha aucklandica"
binomial_authority = (Gray, 1845)The New Zealand Snipe "Coenocorypha aucklandica", also known as the Subantarctic Snipe, is a species of snipe endemic to New Zealand. The nominate race is found on the Auckland Islands (excluding the main island). Other subspecies include "C. a. huegeli" which is found on the Snares Islands, and "C. a. meinertzhagenae" which is found on the Antipodes Islands. The introduction of the Pacific Rat "Rattus exulans" probably caused the extinction of the species from mainland New Zealand around 1,000 years ago, but the North Island and South Island subspecies managed to hang on on offshore islands, the last refugia being Little Barrier Island (until the 1870s: Miskelly, 1988) and Big South Cape Island (until c.1964).

The Māori have legends about the "hokioi" or "hakawai", a mythical bird which was only heard. Supposedly a giant bird of prey, this image was influenced by tales of the then-extinct Haast's Eagle and the loud noises attributed to the "hokioi". However, Miskelly (1987; see also Galbreath & Miskelly, 1988) demonstrated that the tiny New Zealand Snipe was responsible for producing the loud rushing or screaming heard at nighttime during its mating flight, similar to the Common Snipe's "winnowing" and entirely out of proportion in loudness to the bird's diminutive size. Miskelly "et al." (2006) describe it as

A series of 3-6 disyllabic whistles variously described as "queeyoo queeyoo queeyoo" or "hakwai hakwai hakwai" was given by unseen birds high (10sof m) above the ground, followed immediately by a "roar" or undulating whistle of air rushing through feathers [...] , that we likened to a jet aircraft passing close overhead.

References

* Database entry includes a brief justification of why this species is near threatened
* Galbreath, Ross & Miskelly, Colin M. (1988): The Hakawai. "Notornis" 35(3): 215–216. [http://www.notornis.org.nz/free_issues/Notornis_35-1988/Notornis_35_3.pdf PDF fulltext]
* Miskelly, Colin M. (1987): The identity of the hakawai. "Notornis" 34(2): 95-116. [http://www.notornis.org.nz/free_issues/Notornis_34-1987/Notornis_34_2.pdf PDF fulltext]
* Miskelly, Colin M. (1988): The Little Barrier Island snipe. "Notornis" 35(4): 273–281. [http://www.notornis.org.nz/free_issues/Notornis_35-1988/Notornis_35_4.pdf PDF fulltext]
* Miskelly, Colin M.; Bell, Elizabeth A.; Elliott, Graeme P. & Walker, Kath J. (2006): 'Hakawai' aerial displaying by three populations of subantarctic snipe (genus "Coenocorypha"). "Notornis" 53(4): 375-381. [http://www.notornis.org.nz/abstract.php?volume_issue=n53_4&first_page=375 HTML abstract]

External links

* [http://www.birdlife.org/datazone/species/index.html?action=SpcHTMDetails.asp&sid=3002&m=0 BirdLife Species Factsheet]