Rare opportunity for a close encounter with our feathered friends

Nelson Provincial Museum’s new exhibition, Te Hītori Aotūroa: Learning from Nature, gives visitors the opportunity to view a range of preserved native birds, small animals, eggs, skulls and insects on temporary display – including a day-old weka chick, a juvenile male kea, and the iconic tūī, – as well as some stunning displays of foreign species, like the snowy owl (a species later made famous by the Harry Potter films).

Te Hītori Aotūroa: Learning from Nature tells the story of past practices in natural history collecting and taxidermy, and the information those specimens provide us today.

Bird Specimen, Kea. Nelson Provincial Museum Collection: NPM2022.48.1

In reviewing the museum’s natural history holdings for this latest exhibition, curators re-visited specimens that tell stories of bygone collecting practices when natural history specimens were commodified for fashion, trade, and scientific exchange both within Aotearoa and around the world.

Today, the Museum only accepts specimens that have been found freshly deceased or are historic pieces, and which fill gaps in the collection.

The exhibition gives visitors the opportunity to see the tiny, day-old weka chick with a small remnant of its egg tooth intact. The juvenile male kea is mounted on a rock with its wings proudly outstretched so that visitors can see the magnificent colour of its feathers. Likewise, it is easy to discern the variety of iridescent feathers that characterise the iconic tūī, along with its distinctive white feather tufts on the throat, known as poi or wattle.

The dynamic poses of these specimens are not accidental. They were chosen to replicate the natural postures and characteristics of the bird so that it is possible to see their full plumage. This bygone practice has many benefits today. For example, it enables kaiwhatu (weaver) to determine where various feathers on kākahu (cloaks) and other textiles were sourced from.

These recent specimens, like the kea, are a continuation of a traditional art and science to document surviving species in the region. Their presence in collections is becoming more critical to understanding and documenting rapidly changing environments and ecosystems that are essential for their future survival.

The rarity and significance of historic specimens today does not excuse nor justify the crude and often excessive collecting practices of the past when specimens were collected indiscriminately and sometimes in large volume. Instead, they expose a responsibility and accountability to look after these fragile resources, to uphold their mana and make them available for future generations.

The origins of the collection

The unique natural environment of Aotearoa was a collectors’ playground in the early days of European settlement, particularly before the release of Charles Darwin’s book, On the Origin of the Species, and his theory of evolution becoming mainstream in the late 19th century.

While 18th and 19th century global exploration and associated collecting activity undoubtedly contributed to the decline of native species around the globe, museums now have an ethical, cultural and (in some cases) legal responsibility to ensure those collections are preserved for future generations.

The Literary and Scientific Institution of Nelson – as the predecessor of the Nelson Provincial Museum was known when established in 1841 – was once a gathering place of world history and culture, as well as local history.

Within three decades of European settlement, urban development, foreign farming practices and introduced species were already having a devastating impact on local wildlife. In 1876, the institute “made arrangements to form as complete a collection of the birds of New Zealand as can be arranged”.

Ironically, the institute’s proposed solution to document Aotearoa’s dwindling numbers of native species also perpetuated their decline.

By the 1940s, many of the existing specimens in the institute were pest infested, damaged, or decayed. The institute loaned several bird specimens from the Dominion Museum to strengthen the collection without the need to hunt and kill more birds for display. By this point, the museum appears to have joined a local and national chorus calling for legislation and protection over native species and wildlife areas and abandoned its desire for a complete collection of New Zealand birds. At the time, the Nelson Evening Mail published a number of comments expressing concern that New Zealand’s wildlife was destined to end up in overseas collections rather than alive in their natural habitat.

The “white kiwi” mystery continues

Many newspaper articles from the late 19th century talk about the “white kiwis” of Martin’s Bay and around Greymouth but it is unclear to which species they belong. In some papers they are simply referred to as rara avis or rare bird.

Bird, Kiwi, Albino. Nelson Provincial Museum: NN2015.89

Dr Leonard George Boor was a medical practitioner and active member of the institute. The press frequently mentioned him for presenting various specimens to the institute, including lizards and birds.

Boor collected an “unusually light” kiwi from Martins Bay in Westland in 1886 for the institute, which attracted much curiosity. Originally, it was classified as apteryx oweni (Little Spotted Kiwi) but was later labelled “Grey Albino,” possibly in the 1940s. However, the feathers of this kiwi range from pale cream to pale grey; they are certainly not pure “albino” white.

Nelson Provincial Museum’s current curators have speculated that the kiwi in its collection is a rowi rather than an albino grey. Rowi are the rarest of the five species of kiwi. However, being unable to check the original eyes to confirm they were pink, which would indicate it is an albino, means there isn’t enough information for the curators to determine its species, so they have approached Department of Conservation (DOC) rangers in Westland to try and identify the specimen.

Other birds traveled the globe before they landed in Nelson. For example, two snowy owls and one horned owl were acquired by Bishop Suter during his travels to England via North America in 1888. Suter acquired the specimens from Lake Winnipeg and took them to London to be mounted, each in their own glass display case with foliage such as fern and other plant material. At some point, fake plaster “snow” was added to the display to resemble the environment from where the birds came.

Upon his return to Nelson, Bishop Suter presented the owls to the Literary and Scientific Institution, where they have remained in the permanent collection.

Bird, Snowy Owl (male). Nelson Provincial Museum. NPS.48.3

Two of these birds have been included in the current exhibition. Although once “as common as ice,” snowy owls are now classified as “vulnerable” on the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List of Threatened Species. Snowy owls primarily eat lemmings, but these rodent-like creatures are themselves falling victim to food shortages and over-predation due to climate impacts on their natural habitat.

Not all specimens at the Museum came from outside the rohe. Te Tauihu was also a significant site for collectors. The Museum holds two extremely old tuatara specimens – a male and female – crudely mounted on a muddy burlap and wood plinth. It is assumed these specimens date between 1860 and 1880, a time when curiosity collectors and traders almost eradicated this local taonga.

Bird, Snowy Owl (female). Nelson Provincial Museum. NPS.48.2

In 1898, the government placed the tuatara and its eggs under the Animal Protection Act to curtail collecting and to restore their numbers. Although these specimens are not on display, the story of tuatara is preserved and told by their kaitiaki, Ngāti Koata, and living taonga are available for public viewing at Natureland.

Museum caring for many more specimens

In addition to the birds on display in the new exhibition, Nelson Provincial Museum holds hundreds of natural history specimens including fossils, insects, birds, shells, eggs, small animals, and botanical items. The collection also holds non-native specimens collected from within and outside Aotearoa.

This includes one of Jonathan Brough’s large parlour-style display cases filled with birds from New Zealand, Australia, and New Guinea. Brough was another notable member of the Literary and Scientific Institution of Nelson. He collected bird specimens for Walter Lawry Buller who compiled A History of the Birds of New Zealand. Published in 1872, it was New Zealand’s first illustrated compendium of native birds.

As a Nelson-based road builder and keen naturalist, Brough was strategically positioned to trade specimens with eminent collectors outside the region. Brough’s case features more than 60 birds, many seated on branches or posed in flight, in a lively and colourful display of feathers and crests.

Brough’s case shows an interest in, and readily available trade market for, exotic birds in the past. Many of these birds are now endangered and are listed on the Convention on International Trade of Endangered Species (CITES) register, which prohibits international trade of threatened species to ensure their survival. Although visibly aged and in poor condition, they are still evidence of a species captured in time that can inform the future. Unfortunately, the Brough collection is too fragile for display in the current exhibition.

Article prepared by Nelson Provincial Museum Collections Leader, Shae Trewin, with additional reporting and editing by Kerry Sunderland.

This article was originally published in The Nelson Mail on Saturday 13th January 2024. To view the story - click here