2026 NZ Bird Conference & Birds New Zealand AGM 30 May-1 June
The 2026 NZ Bird Conference and Birds New Zealand AGM will be held in Wānaka on King’s Birthday weekend at the Lake Wānaka Centre. About 200 ornithologists and bird enthusiasts are registered to attend Aotearoa New Zealand's largest annual conference on birds and bird research, which has been held in a different location every year since 2005 (except 2020).
The keynote speakers will be Hoani Langsbury and Paul Kavanagh. Hoani Langsbury (Ngaio House–Ecologist, Ōtākou. Kāi Tahu, Kati Mamoe, Waitaha, Rapuwai, Kati Hawea) will speak about a Te Ao Māori approach to ecological and conservation management through a practitioner's lens. Paul Kavanagh is Chief Executive of the Southern Lakes Sanctuary which is a landscape-scale conservation project located in the Queenstown Lakes District and will speak about integrating technology with grassroots conservation in the context of their project.
There will be more than 40 speakers including Nic Rawlence, Dawn Palmer, Katinka Rexer-Huber, Inka Pleiss, Colin Miskelly, Alan Tennyson, Ian Armitage, Mike Bell, Oscar Thomas, Ann-Katrin Schlesselmann, Ilse Corkery, Phil Battley, Francesca Cunninghame, Graham Parker, Isabelle Beaudoin, Erin Marshall, Julia Kovács, Olivia Rowley, Olivia Ediriweera, Rahman Rasyidi, Theo Atkinson, Louise Bodt, Ian G. Van Tets, Scott Bourke, Daniel Cocker, Sarah Forder, Anya Kruszewski, Philippa Agnew, Guozheng Li, Christopher Bycroft, Scott Jarvie, Cilla Wehi and Quinn Berentson.
The speakers will cover a wide range of subjects, including moa de-extinction, bird behaviour, bird conservation, habitat use, migratory movements, breeding success, predation, population trends, banding, bird songs, bird diets, at-sea ranges, genomics, evolution, seabird bycatch, new research technologies including aerial drones and remote tracking technology, and the work of Birds New Zealand.
Study birds featured will include Little Spotted Kiwi, Kea, Antipodean Albatross, Saddleback, Little Penguin, Fiordland Crested Penguin, Emperor Penguin, Black Stilt, NZ Fairy Tern, Bellbird, Black-fronted Tern, Southern NZ Dotterel, Yellowhead, Fernbird, NZ Falcon, Red Knot, South Island Pied Oystercatcher, NZ Fantail, Silvereye, Black Petrel, Chatham Taiko, Chatham Petrel, Sooty Shearwater, Grey-faced Petrel, Fairy Prion, Hutton’s Shearwater and NZ King Shag.
There will also be a poster session, a photo competition, workshops and post-conference guided field trips. At the end of the conference, Birds New Zealand will hold its AGM and present its annual awards (The Robert Falla Memorial Award, Meritorious Service Awards, Student Presentation Awards, Poster & Photo Competition Awards).
