Data Zone
Justification of Red List category
This species is known from New Zealand's North Island, but has been driven Extinct by habitat loss and predation. The last confirmed record dates from 1902, and there have been no reports at all since 1970.
Population justification
None remain.
Turnagra tanagra was endemic to the North Island, New Zealand. Walter Buller described it as common in the 1870s, but there were few specimens ever collected (specimens are only known to exist in Chicago, Philadelphia (USA), Tring (U.K.) and Wellington (New Zealand)), the last being from 1902. Occasional unconfirmed sight records persisted until 1970 (Tennyson and Martinson 2006).
Very little is known, although it is likely to have required large tracts of primary native forest.
Presumably both habitat destruction and direct predation by people, cats and rats caused the species' extinction (Greenway 1967).
Text account compilers
Vine, J.
Contributors
Brooks, T., Khwaja, N., Mahood, S. & Martin, R.
Recommended citation
BirdLife International (2024) Species factsheet: North Island Piopio Turnagra tanagra. Downloaded from
https://datazone.birdlife.org/species/factsheet/north-island-piopio-turnagra-tanagra on 23/12/2024.
Recommended citation for factsheets for more than one species: BirdLife International (2024) IUCN Red List for birds. Downloaded from
https://datazone.birdlife.org/species/search on 23/12/2024.