Morepork Synopsis of Birds", but did not give it a binomial name. German naturalist Johann Friedrich Gmelin described the morepork in 1788. "Morepork" has been designated the official name by the International Ornithological Committee. Both Gerlof Fokko Mees and Ernst Mayr regarded the taxonomy of the boobook owl as extremely challenging, the latter remarking in 1943 that it was "one of the most difficult problems I have ever encountered". In his 1968 book "Nightwatchmen of the Bush and Plain", Australian naturalist David Fleay observed that the boobooks from Tasmania more closely resembled those of New Zealand than those from mainland Australia,
Australasian pipit New Zealand due to the improvement of pastures, use of pesticides and predation by introduced species. A number of subspecies are recognised: Australasian pipit The Australasian pipit ("Anthus novaeseelandiae") is a fairly small passerine bird of open country in Australia, New Zealand and New Guinea. It belongs to the pipit genus "Anthus" in the family Motacillidae. It was formerly lumped together with the Richard's, African, Mountain and Paddyfield pipits in a single species: Richard's pipit, "Anthus novaeseelandiae". Some authors split the Australasian pipit further into two species: Australian pipit ("Anthus australis") in Australia and New Guinea and New Zealand pipit