• Summary
• Text account
• Data table and detailed info
• Distribution map
• Reference and further resources

Taxonomic note
Hemiphaga novaeseelandiae and H. chathamensis (del Hoyo and Collar 2014) were previously lumped as H. novaeseelandiae following Sibley and Monroe (1990, 1993).

Taxonomic source(s)
del Hoyo, J., Collar, N.J., Christie, D.A., Elliott, A. and Fishpool, L.D.C. 2014. HBW and BirdLife International Illustrated Checklist of the Birds of the World. Volume 1: Non-passerines. Lynx Edicions BirdLife International, Barcelona, Spain and Cambridge, UK.

Red List criteria met

Critically Endangered	Endangered	Vulnerable
-	-	-

Red List history

Year	Category	Criteria
2022	Least Concern
2016	Near Threatened	A2cde+3cde+4cde
2014	Near Threatened	A2cde+3cde+4cde
2012	Not Recognised
2008	Not Recognised
2004	Not Recognised
2000	Not Recognised
1994	Not Recognised
1988	Not Recognised

Migratory status	not a migrant	Forest dependency	medium
Land-mass type		Average mass	653 g

	Estimate	Data quality
Extent of Occurrence (breeding/resident)	669,000 km2	medium
Severely fragmented?	no	-

	Estimate	Data quality	Derivation	Year of estimate
Population size	unknown	-	-	-
Population trend	increasing	poor	suspected	-
Generation length	7.2 years	-	-	-
Number of subpopulations	1	-	-	-
Percentage of mature individuals in largest subpopulation	100%	-	-	-

Population justification: The global population of this species has not been quantified but is described generally as common to uncommon and is predictably most abundant where intensive predator controls have taken place (Baber et al. 2009). The species is recorded at densities of 10-200 birds/km² (Baptista et al. 2020). Given the size of its range, the population is not suspected to be fewer than 10,000 mature individuals.

Trend justification: There is some uncertainty over the trend, driven principally by some differences in urban and rural areas (Carpenter et al. 2021), although it is not suspected to be declining. This species underwent a drastic decline following European settlement and some populations were reported still to be in steep decline in the 1990s: e.g. a survey in Northland in 1993 found a 50% decline over 14 years (Pierce et al. 1993). Recoveries are later recorded in Northland however following intensive predator management (Smith & Westbrooke 2004, Baber et al. 2009) and the current population is still considered conservation dependent (Robertson et al. 2017, 2021). While the contemporary population is much declined compared to that of pre-European settlement, the species has been listed in New Zealand as 'Not Threatened' (according to criteria established by Townsend et al. 2008) and having an increasing population since 2008 (Robertson et al. 2013, 2017, 2021), representing a genuine improvement in status since 2005 when it was listed by Hitchmough et al. (2007) as being in gradual decline. These assessments are supported further by data in Brandt et al. (2020) that show a 43% increase in observations as part of the New Zealand Garden Bird Survey between 2009 and 2019, with a more rapid increase (of 52%) between 2014 and 2019, including increases detected in all regions across Northland and Southland. The overall population is therefore tentatively suspected to be increasing. However, factors underlying temporal occupancy and limiting population sizes are spatially variable and there may be some local fluctuations in response to food abundance and predator control (Carpenter et al. 2021).

Country/Territory	Presence	Origin	Resident	Breeding visitor	Non-breeding visitor	Passage migrant
New Zealand	extant	native	yes
Norfolk Island (to Australia)	extinct	native	yes

Country/Territory	IBA Name

Habitat (level 1)	Habitat (level 2)	Importance	Occurrence
Artificial/Terrestrial	Rural Gardens	suitable	breeding
Artificial/Terrestrial	Rural Gardens	suitable	non-breeding
Forest	Subtropical/Tropical Moist Lowland	suitable	breeding
Forest	Subtropical/Tropical Moist Lowland	suitable	non-breeding
Forest	Temperate	major	breeding
Forest	Temperate	major	non-breeding
Altitude	0 - 1100 m	Occasional altitudinal limits

Threat (level 1)	Threat (level 2)	Impact and Stresses
Biological resource use	Hunting & trapping terrestrial animals - Intentional use (species is the target)	Timing		Scope		Severity		Impact
		Ongoing		Minority (<50%)		No decline		Low Impact: 4
		Stresses Species mortality
Biological resource use	Logging & wood harvesting - Unintentional effects: (subsistence/small scale) [harvest]	Timing		Scope		Severity		Impact
		Ongoing		Minority (<50%)		Negligible declines		Low Impact: 4
		Stresses Ecosystem degradation
Invasive and other problematic species, genes & diseases	Invasive non-native/alien species/diseases - Felis catus	Timing		Scope		Severity		Impact
		Ongoing		Majority (50-90%)		Negligible declines		Low Impact: 5
		Stresses Species mortality
Invasive and other problematic species, genes & diseases	Invasive non-native/alien species/diseases - Mustela erminea	Timing		Scope		Severity		Impact
		Ongoing		Majority (50-90%)		Negligible declines		Low Impact: 5
		Stresses Species mortality
Invasive and other problematic species, genes & diseases	Invasive non-native/alien species/diseases - Rattus rattus	Timing		Scope		Severity		Impact
		Ongoing		Majority (50-90%)		Negligible declines		Low Impact: 5
		Stresses Reduced reproductive success
Invasive and other problematic species, genes & diseases	Invasive non-native/alien species/diseases - Trichosurus vulpecula	Timing		Scope		Severity		Impact
		Ongoing		Majority (50-90%)		Negligible declines		Low Impact: 5
		Stresses Competition, Species mortality
Residential & commercial development	Housing & urban areas	Timing		Scope		Severity		Impact
		Ongoing		Minority (<50%)		Negligible declines		Low Impact: 4
		Stresses Species mortality
Transportation & service corridors	Roads & railroads	Timing		Scope		Severity		Impact
		Ongoing		Minority (<50%)		No decline		Low Impact: 4
		Stresses Species mortality
Transportation & service corridors	Utility & service lines	Timing		Scope		Severity		Impact
		Ongoing		Minority (<50%)		No decline		Low Impact: 4
		Stresses Species mortality

Purpose	Scale
Food - human	subsistence, national
Pets/display animals, horticulture	international

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Recommended citation
BirdLife International (2025) Species factsheet: New Zealand Pigeon Hemiphaga novaeseelandiae. Downloaded from https://datazone.birdlife.org/species/factsheet/new-zealand-pigeon-hemiphaga-novaeseelandiae on 03/01/2025.
Recommended citation for factsheets for more than one species: BirdLife International (2025) IUCN Red List for birds. Downloaded from https://datazone.birdlife.org/species/search on 03/01/2025.