Abstract
This report is an update of the regional conservation status of bird taxa known in Otago known to occur in Otago since human arrival in Aotearoa New Zealand and supersedes an earlier version from 2024. Standardised methodology was followed to assess the regional threat status of 287 bird taxa. Thirty-two were assessed as Regionally Threatened (Regionally Critical = 9; Regionally Endangered = 6; Regionally Vulnerable = 17), four as Regionally At Risk (Regionally Declining = 3; Regionally Recovering = 1), 139 as Regionally Non-resident Native (Regional Migrant = 37; Regional Vagrant = 100; Regional Coloniser = 2), 23 as Regionally Not Threatened, nine as Regionally Data Deficient, and 25 taxa as Introduced and Naturalised. Four taxa were identified as Conservation Translocations where they have been deliberately moved to the region for conservation benefit and have extant populations: three of these were Reintroductions and one was an Assisted Migration. The number of Regionally Extirpated taxa was 43, i.e., 30 are Globally Extinct and 13 are Regionally Extinct (three of these have been Reintroduced and have extant populations). Ten taxa are Introduced, Not Established, i.e., where a release is documented, but with no self-sustaining population in the wild; or a deliberate introduction is documented, and published records indicate the species bred (or probably bred), but it is no longer extant; and two are Not Assessed, i.e., have been assessed in earlier national assessments but currently not assessed.