Archives For buller’s birds of New Zealand

We have had so many great comments telling us why you want this beautiful poster. The giveaway is now closed and the winning comment (picked at random) is from Anna Margaret. Em Scott also picks up a copy for naming all of the birds. Thanks for commenting.

If you’ve been following the Conservation Blog for a while you might remember that last November we gave away a copy of Buller’s Birds of New Zealand.

At the time I said that each painting was a masterpiece that I wanted to frame for my wall. I also said that pulling apart such a precious book for a piece of wall art would be criminal. This month I found the solution to my problem. May I present to you Native Birds of New Zealand—the poster.

The image used in this poster is a cromolithograph (c. 1900) by William Shaw Diedrich Schmidt. The birds in Schmidt’s work were based on the artwork of J.G Keulemans in Walter Buller’s A History of the Birds of New Zealand.

Buller's birds of New Zealand. The poster.

How gorgeous is that? How perfect would it look on my (ahem, I mean your) wall? How great would it be to win a copy?

Well, today you have a chance, thanks to Te Papa Press.

All you need to do to be in with a shot of winning the Native Birds of New Zealand poster is to leave a comment on this post before 12 noon, Wednesday 23 October 2013, telling us why you want it. 

A winner will be selected at random and contacted by email.

For an extra chance to win (yes, that’s two copies of the poster we’re giving away), and a fun challenge for the dedicated bird lovers amongst us, who can name the most birds in the poster?

Good luck!


Unfortunately we can only post to New Zealand addresses.

The Native Birds of New Zealand poster (755mm x 449mm) is valued at $24.99 and is available to purchase from Te Papa (and their online store).

The giveaway is now closed. The lucky winner is kākāpō fan Tania Seward of Auckland, who recently visited our Official Spokesbird for Conservation, Sirocco the kākāpō , at Maungatautari.


Buller’s Birds of New Zealand, edited by Geoff Norman, is without a doubt one of the most beautiful books I’ve laid eyes on and, thanks to Te Papa Press, I have the privilege of giving away a copy here on the Conservation Blog.

“This precious and beautiful book is a perfect celebration of the precious
and beautiful birds of the precious and beautiful islands of Aotearoa.”
Stephen Fry

A memorial to a vanished world

This brand new (launched last month) edition contains the complete set of 95 classic 19th century ornithological paintings by John Gerrard Keulemans, reproduced in the most spectacular colour and detail.

Each painting is a masterpiece that I’d happily frame for my wall (although pulling apart this precious cloth-bound book to do so would be criminal – I might have to buy the calendar or cards for that project!).

Aside from the art, the book also has Buller’s original, descriptive text, as well as up-to-date taxonomic information in English and te reo Māori.

It’s valued at $150 and, on the off chance that you don’t win a copy here, you can purchase it from bookshops nationwide or online at www.tepapastore.co.nz.

Bush wren/mātuhituhi and rock wren/pīwauwau

Be in to win

To be in to win leave a comment on this post before 12 noon, Monday 12 November 2012, telling us why you want the book. A winner will be selected at random and contacted by email.

The giveaway is open to everyone, except employees of the Department of Conservation and their immediate families; however, we can only ship to New Zealand addresses.

Good luck!

Yellowhead/mohua and whitehead/pōpokotea

Stephen Fry says it best…

“There can be no finer example of the pinnacle of Victorian cataloguing than the stupendously fine work of Buller and Keulemans in their monumental collaboration… this wondrous, perfectly fashioned masterpiece marks a kind of dividing line between the old New Zealand of slaughter and extinction and the new New Zealand, which is one of the most conservation-minded, eco-aware and environmentally progressive nations on earth.

“Keulemans’ unprecedentedly detailed and exquisite images of every New Zealand bird that Buller could spot, catch and describe amount to a supreme work of art the like of which it is hard to find anywhere else in the realm of natural history…

“The re-publication by the Te Papa Press of this pioneering work with an exhaustive, deeply researched, highly readable text by Geoff Norman will be welcomed by scholars, field-workers and enthusiasts the world over. It is a memorial to a vanished world and a reminder of the vulnerability of biodiversity – how millions of years of creation can be undone by only a few centuries of destruction.

“I am dizzy with pride at being offered this opportunity to introduce it to you. This precious and beautiful book is a perfect celebration of the precious and beautiful birds of the precious and beautiful islands of Aotearoa.” – Stephen Fry