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<\/p>\nNorthland’s Amy Macdonald is calling on Te Tai Tokerau to “back the bittern” – one of Aotearoa’s most endangered wetland birds – in the Bird of the Year competition, with only two days remaining to vote.<\/p>\n
“The bittern is a beautiful bird. It’s shy and elusive, but that doesn’t mean it doesn’t matter,” the Northland regional councillor and freshwater ecologist said.<\/p>\n
On Friday, the latest leaderboard showed the karure (black robin) holding first place, followed by the k\u0101k\u0101p\u014d.<\/p>\n
The bittern \/ matuku-h\u016brepo didn’t feature in the top 10 birds in the most recent update.<\/p>\n
But Macdonald wants to change that.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
She urged people to get behind the critically threatened Australasian bittern in the highly-contested Forest & Bird competition.<\/p>\n
The matuku-h\u016brepo is standing in the Shy Birds party – one of six different ‘parties’ in the competition. There will be a winning bird and winning party.<\/p>\n
Once seen in large flocks throughout New Zealand, the matuku-h\u016brepo has declined to fewer than 1000 birds nationwide.<\/p>\n
The drastic decline has coincided with the loss of about 90 percent of New Zealand’s wetlands since European settlement, a figure estimated at 97 percent in Northland.<\/p>\n
Predation, habitat degradation, vehicle strikes and other pressures have also contributed to the decline.<\/p>\n
Northland had “really good” remnant wetlands, Macdonald said.<\/p>\n
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Amy Macdonald beside the bittern awareness sign at P\u0101taua South Road that runs alongside critical wetland habitat for the secretive bird.<\/p>\n
Supplied\/LDR via NZME<\/p>\n
Protecting and enhancing those wetlands offered an opportunity to help the bittern population survive.<\/p>\n
“Bitterns need clean water in wetlands because they hunt by sight, and good quality habitat.”<\/p>\n
Macdonald said the bittern played an important role in encouraging people to protect wetlands.<\/p>\n
She said farmers who discovered a bittern living in a wetland on their property often became even more committed to protecting that habitat.<\/p>\n
The regional council would then work alongside landowners to fence wetlands and improve habitat protection.<\/p>\n
Northland Regional Council is working with the Department of Conservation, Northland conservation network Kiwi Coast and community landcare groups across Te Tai Tokerau to better understand bittern numbers and distribution.<\/p>\n
Kiwi Coast supports and connects more than 270 community, hap\u016b and iwi-led biodiversity projects across Northland.<\/p>\n
The council has also worked with others to install signs on State Highway 12 at Parore, south of Dargaville, and near wetlands at P\u0101taua South and Ngunguru, to warn drivers about the presence of bitterns after several were killed by vehicles.<\/p>\n
The matuku-h\u016brepo is New Zealand’s only remaining bittern species. It is a large mottled brown, heron-like bird native to New Zealand, Australia and New Caledonia.<\/p>\n
Macdonald, a P\u0101taua South resident, said bitterns were masters of camouflage and often hidden in plain sight.<\/p>\n
“Keep an eye out. My daughter saw a bittern on the way to school two days ago, in a small roadside wetland pond area. It’s just a matter of noticing.”<\/p>\n
Bird of the Year voting is proving a family affair, with Macdonald’s daughter casting her vote for the bittern after taking an interest in the competition through school.<\/p>\n
That call is echoed by New Zealand’s Ngunguru-based Love Bittern Project national co-ordinator Wendy Ambury.<\/p>\n
![\"Ngunguru-based](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/4JI3HQB_Bitternlady_WendyAmbury2410181_JPG.jpeg\")
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Ngunguru-based national Love Bittern Project leader Wendy Ambury<\/p>\n
Susan Botting Local Democracy Reporter<\/p>\n
“There’s a lot of bang for buck in backing bitterns,” Ambury said.<\/p>\n
The species was on the brink of extinction and public awareness was critical to its future, she said.<\/p>\n