South Island Piopio

Please note that the content of this book primarily consists of articles available from Wikipedia or other free sources online. The South Island Piopio, Turnagra capensis, also known as the New Zealand Thrush, was a passerine bird of the Turnagridae family, found only in New Zealand. Two subspecies are recognized, the nominate T. c. capensis from the South Island mainland, and the much smaller Stephens Island Piopio (T. c. minor) from Stephens Island, which is often considered to be based on juvenile birds, but seems to be valid (Medway, 2004b). The assumption of the well-flying bird evolving into a distinct subspecies on the small (2.6 km ) island close (3.2 km) to the mainland seems hard to believe, but Stephens Island must have held a population of many hundred birds in 1894 (Medway, 2004a), and the Piopio was apparently a reluctant flyer, not usually being found on offshore islands.