The Bird Collection
Curated by NZ On Screen team 53 items
A collection devoted to our feathered friends — from nosey kea to noisy kākāpō, to miraculous rescue missions and birds whose only remaining home is the museum.
Overview
A menagerie of cute creatures take their turn in the spotlight in NZ On Screen's Bird Collection. Beloved avian stars (kiwi, kea, kākāpō) share the screen with clumsy penguins, survival stories, and tales of species that are sadly no longer with us. Writer/actor Elisabeth Easther edited the book Bird Words; in the backgrounder, she picks out some highlights from the collection, and makes clear why birdwatching is a thing of joy.
Television
Shorts
Commercial
Collection Gallery
A pair of black stilt and nest by the Tekapo River, from 1983 documentary The Black Stilt.
© NHNZ Photo: by Rod Morris
An adult emperor penguin with chick, from 1992 documentary Emperors of Antartica.
© NHNZ Photo by Max Quinn.
Emperor chicks, from 1992 documentary Emperors of Antartica.
© NHNZ Photo: by Max Quinn.
A black stilt, from 1983 documentary The Black Stilt.
© NHNZ Photo: by Rod Morris
A shot from Seven Black Robins.
Kindly provided by Natural History New Zealand
A shot from documentary Seven Black Robins. An NZ Wildlife Service ranger climbs up the 200-metre cliffs on Little Mangere Island. Mangere Island is in the background.
Kindly supplied by Natural History New Zealand
Elisabeth Easther — who wrote the backgrounder for NZ On Screen's Bird Collection — meets Sirocco the kākāpõ.
Photo supplied by Elisabeth Easther
A shot from Seven Black Robins.
Kindly provided by Natural History New Zealand.