A Late Holocene avifaunal assemblage from Herbertville, southern Hawke's Bay, New Zealand

Collections of over 300 small bones and nearly 450 moa eggshell fragments from two Late Holocene eroding sand-dune sites at Herbertville, southern Hawke's Bay, give a snapshot of the pre-human avifauna of the North Island's south-eastern coastline. The remains represent at least 74 individual terrestrial vertebrates of 39 species, half the species being now extinct at Herbertville. In the absence of diagnostic moa bones, analysis of the thicknesses of moa eggshell fragments suggests that three species of moa were present. Identified bones represented 21 species of land birds (a kiwi, two ducks, a quail, a pigeon, five rails, three raptorial birds, four parrots and four song-birds) and 13 species of marine and coastal birds (two waders, two gulls or terns, a penguin, six petrels, and two shags). The commonest bird (by "minimum number of individuals") was weka (Gallirallus australis), followed by little penguin (Eudyptula minor), kaka (Nestor meridionalis), and New Zealand raven (Corvus moriorum). A perinatal New Zealand sea lion femur (Phocarctos hookeri) suggests that this species once bred in the Herbertville sand-dunes. The pre-human avifauna at Herbertville was similar to that described for terrestrial species at Lake Poukawa, 80 km to the north, and for dune forests at Cape Reinga and North Cape.