Speed key to ending threat from pests

Bulbul bird

Biosecurity New Zealand is hunting an invasive species of bird which may be breeding and causing destruction to native birds and vegetation.

A pair of red-vented bulbul birds, native to India and parts of Asia, have been spotted in Devonport and central Auckland, it says.

The birds are listed among the top 100 invasive species, and were most likely introduced from the Pacific by a boat visiting Auckland.

Biosecurity NZ senior adviser Sonya Bissmire said more help was needed to deal with the birds quickly because they might be breeding.

"Several sightings were reported, but as time has gone on they have dried up," she said.

"We've narrowed down the probable home range of the birds, but we need to identify a number of sites that they routinely visit in order to have the best chance of capturing them.

"To do that we need more help from the public."

The birds are slightly smaller than a starling, and dark brown, almost black in colour, with a light-coloured abdomen and a distinctive red patch beneath their tails.

They also have a black head with a small peaked crest.

They are very active, moving fast from one flower to another, not spending much time in one place.

They are most likely to be found in flowering trees and trees with berries, but will also eat grapes, bananas and other soft fruit, and food scraps.

They have also been spotted eating dry cat biscuits from a cat bowl.

In the 1950s a small population of about 50 birds became established between Takapuna and Mt Eden in Auckland after some were released from a ship.

It took until 1955 for them to be eradicated.

It has been illegal to import the birds since the late 1960s.

- NZPA