Morepork Morepork The morepork ("Ninox novaeseelandiae"), also called the ruru or Tasmanian spotted owl, is a small brown owl found throughout New Zealand and Tasmania. Described by Johann Friedrich Gmelin in 1788, it was for many years considered to be the same species as the southern boobook of mainland Australia until 1999. Its name is derived from its two-tone call. Four subspecies of the morepork are recognized, one of which is extinct and another that exists only as a hybrid population. The bird has almost 20 alternative common names, including mopoke and boobook — many of these names are onomatopoeic, as
Australasian pipit 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 ("Anthus novaeseelandiae"), also called Pïhoihoi, in New Zealand. It is a slender bird, 16 to 19 cm long, and weighs about 40