Current view: Text account
Site description (2014 baseline):
IBA Trigger Species: Black-billed Gull, Black-fronted Tern, NZ Grebe (Dabchick), Australasian Bittern.
Other species: Black Shag, Little black Shag, Pied Shag, Little Shag, Spotted Shag, White-faced Heron, White Heron, Reef Egret, Royal Spoonbill, Black Swan, Mute Swan, Canada Goose, Feral Goose, Paradise Shel-duck, Mallard, Grey Teal, NZ Scaup, Australasian Shoveler, Australasian Harrier, Pukeko, Australian Coot, Marsh (Baillon’s) Crake, Spotless Crake, Pied Oystercatcher, Variable Oystercatcher, Pied Stilt, Banded Dotterel, Black-fronted Dotterel, Spur-winged Plover, Southern Black-backed Gull, Red-billed Gull, Caspian Tern, White-fronted Tern, Californian Quail, Common Pheasant, NZ Pigeon, Rock Pigeon, Eastern Rosella, NZ Kingfisher, Welcome Swallow, Shining Cuckoo, NZ Pipit, North Is-land Fantail, Grey Warbler, Silvereye, Tui, Skylark, Hedge Sparrow, Blackbird, Song Thrush, Yellowhammer, Goldfinch, Chaffinch, Greenfinch, Redpoll, House Sparrow, Starling, Australian Magpie, Rook. Other species recorded: Little Egret, Cattle Egret, Nankeen Night Heron, Glossy Ibis, Chestnut-breasted Shelduck, Japanese Snipe, Pacific Golden Plover, Sharp-tailed Sandpiper, Pectoral Sandpiper, Curlew Sandpiper, Red-necked Stint, Red (Lesser) Knot, Great Knot, Eastern Bar-tailed Godwit, Black-tailed Godwit, Hudsonian Godwit, Whimbrel, Little Whimbrel, Common Sandpiper, Common Green-shank, Marsh Sandpiper, Lesser Yellowlegs, Little Tern, Gull-billed Tern, White-winged Black Tern, Fairy Martin.
NB: Wrybill (VU) is an annual visitor, however in small numbers. Black Stilt (CR) and NZ Dotterel (EN) are vagrants to Wairarapa Moana.
Pressure/threats to key biodiversity
Lake Wairarapa - Wetland Conservation Area - 8628ha - Protected area contained within site
Mathews & Boggy Pond - Wildlife Reserve - 417ha - Protected area contained within site.
The IBA includes a number of Marginal Strips (DOC) alongside the Ruamahanga, Waiohine and Waingawa Rivers.
Recommended citation
BirdLife International (2024) Important Bird Area factsheet: Wairarapa Moana Ruamahanga (New Zealand). Downloaded from
https://datazone.birdlife.org/site/factsheet/wairarapa-moana-ruamahanga-iba-new-zealand on 22/11/2024.
