Your general assessment of trends is correct. Most populations are increasing. There is current assessment that separates the North Island birds from the others but that is not recognised in the New Zealand checklist.
Trewick, S. A., Pilkington, S., Shepherd, L. D., Gibb, G. C., Morgan-Richards, M. (2017). Closing the gap: Avian lineage splits at a young, narrow seaway imply a protracted history of mixed
population response. Molecular Ecology 26(20), 5752–5772.
Your map overstates the distribution. There are not populations on the mainland around “Auckland” and the area to the north of Auckland is generally restricted to the southern half of the drawn extent. More importantly , there are essentially no weka on most of Stewart Island (most southern island). All of the weka there are on very small islands offshore. Your extent of occurrence may need to be altered accordingly.
Many thanks to everyone who has contributed to this discussion. We greatly appreciate the time and effort invested in commenting. The window for consultation is now closed and we are unable to accept any more comments until 22 May 2026. We will now analyse and interpret the information, and we will post a preliminary decision on this species’ Red List category on this page on 22 May 2026, when discussions will re-open.
Many thanks to T. Beauchamp for the helpful comment above. The range map will be revised accordingly. Based on available information, our preliminary proposal for the 2026 Red List would be to adopt the proposed classifications outlined in the initial forum discussion.
There is now a period for further comments until the final deadline on 31 May 2026, after which the recommended categorisations will be put forward to IUCN.
The final 2026 Red List categories will be published on the BirdLife and IUCN websites in November 2026, following further checking of information relevant to the assessments by both BirdLife and IUCN.
Many thanks to everyone who has contributed to this discussion. We greatly appreciate the time and effort invested in commenting. The window for consultation is now closed and we are unable to accept any more comments. We will analyse and interpret the information, and a final decision on this species’ Red List category will be posted on this page on 8 June 2026.
Your general assessment of trends is correct. Most populations are increasing. There is current assessment that separates the North Island birds from the others but that is not recognised in the New Zealand checklist.
Trewick, S. A., Pilkington, S., Shepherd, L. D., Gibb, G. C., Morgan-Richards, M. (2017). Closing the gap: Avian lineage splits at a young, narrow seaway imply a protracted history of mixed
population response. Molecular Ecology 26(20), 5752–5772.
Your map overstates the distribution. There are not populations on the mainland around “Auckland” and the area to the north of Auckland is generally restricted to the southern half of the drawn extent. More importantly , there are essentially no weka on most of Stewart Island (most southern island). All of the weka there are on very small islands offshore. Your extent of occurrence may need to be altered accordingly.
Many thanks to everyone who has contributed to this discussion. We greatly appreciate the time and effort invested in commenting. The window for consultation is now closed and we are unable to accept any more comments until 22 May 2026. We will now analyse and interpret the information, and we will post a preliminary decision on this species’ Red List category on this page on 22 May 2026, when discussions will re-open.
Preliminary proposal
Many thanks to T. Beauchamp for the helpful comment above. The range map will be revised accordingly. Based on available information, our preliminary proposal for the 2026 Red List would be to adopt the proposed classifications outlined in the initial forum discussion.
There is now a period for further comments until the final deadline on 31 May 2026, after which the recommended categorisations will be put forward to IUCN.
The final 2026 Red List categories will be published on the BirdLife and IUCN websites in November 2026, following further checking of information relevant to the assessments by both BirdLife and IUCN.
Many thanks to everyone who has contributed to this discussion. We greatly appreciate the time and effort invested in commenting. The window for consultation is now closed and we are unable to accept any more comments. We will analyse and interpret the information, and a final decision on this species’ Red List category will be posted on this page on 8 June 2026.